


Blood for Battle

by RegalGirl94



Series: Blood [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-29 11:39:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 103,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17807324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegalGirl94/pseuds/RegalGirl94
Summary: While recovering, there is a new threat on the horizon, but Jessie and her friends aren't the only ones who want the Alpha Pack gone. Something dark and evil is killing people in yet another string of mysterious deaths and this time, it seems unstoppable. Each and everyone of them will have to make a sacrifice in order to save Beacon Hills.





	1. A Murder

**Author's Note:**

> PROLOGUE
> 
> Imagine living on the very cusp of reality, yet no where near reality at all. Confused? It's actually pretty simple. I was living in my new-normal for four months, having survived the big blow-out with werewolves, hunters and the kanima. I was now recovering from the aftermath, adjusting to the changes since. But I knew it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
> 
> It's like what they say about the calm before the storm. Everything seems fine. Everything seems to be going back to a place where you can relax and move on from the past. Get better. But that's the worst time to be in, because you know it will all end. I could feel it in my blood.
> 
> Things were about to get very hairy.

_"Isaac please don't go," I pleaded with my boyfriend, keeping his hands hostage in mine while we sat on my bed._

_He sighed, wrenching one of his hands free to wrap the arm around me, "I have to. You know you want your brother back. He should have been back by now."_

_I whimpered at the thought of my big brother in trouble, "I know. But I'm worried enough about my brother out there—I don't want to worry about you too."_

_"Don't worry then," Isaac stated, kissing my forehead, "I'll be fine."_

_"I should go," I told him, looking into his eyes._

_He immediately said, "No. Absolutely not."_

_"Why not?" I raised my voice, standing from my bed to stand in front of him with my hands on my hips, "He's my brother, Isaac. I should be the one to go out and look for him."_

_"He's my pack mate too, Jessie," He nearly growled, standing up to his full height in front of me, "And I don't want you alone out there risking your life. I'm going and that's final."_

_"Nothing's final, Isaac Lahey!" I shouted, "You know things are going to get more dangerous around here with the Alpha pack coming."_

_"Which is all the more reason to find Baako and Erica and bring them back so we have more power against the Alpha pack," Isaac argued back at me, standing up at his full height in front of me._

_"Do you even realize that it may not even matter because they might already be dead!?" I asked him, my voice choking up and shocking him to silence, "Did you think of that?" my voice got quieter, "My big brother—my family—might already be dead. You know how it feels to lose family, Isaac. My brother is missing, my mom and Beth have left. My dad refuses to leave for his own good. I watched those people hold guns on my family and they had to watch me get shot. And now Baako's gone who-knows-where. I can't lose you too."_

_Isaac had wrapped his arms around me when I started talking about losing family. By now I was crying and he was shushing me soothingly, rubbing his hands up and down my arms, "You're not gonna lose me. I feel like I just got you back. I wouldn't jeopardize anything now."_

_I laid my head on his shoulder, calming down, "I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. I love you."_

_"Nothing is going to happen to me," He assured in a whisper, "We need all the help that we can get so I keep you safe."_

_"I can take care of myself," I grumbled to him half-heartedly._

_He chuckled and kissed the top of my head, "I know you can. But it's my job to take care of you. Let me do my job."_

_I sighed, "If you come to me in anything but happy and healthy and one piece, then I'm gonna help heal you just so I can kill you myself."_

_He smiled down at me, and whispered softly, "It's a promise," before leaning down to press his lips to mine._

* * *

A burly tattoo artist with ink up and down his arms peered down at the 'intricate' drawing of one thick line over a thinner line. He looked at Scott McCall sarcastically, "Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture."

"Hey, Scott," Stiles called his best friend's attention, holding up a drawing, "Sure you don't want something like this?" Scott gave him a look after seeing the drawing of a vaguely kanima-like monster. Stiles shrugged, "Too soon?" He set down the drawing and sighed, flopping his arms, "I don't know, man, are you sure about this? I mean, these things are pretty permanent, you know?"

Scott nodded in the chair, "I'm not changing my mind."

Stiles conceded, "Okay, but why two bands?"

Scott shrugged, his face portraying that he really didn't know, "I just like it."

"But don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning, you know, or something?" Stiles suggested.

" _Getting_  a tattoo means something," Scott offered.

"He's right," the built and bearded tattoo artist agreed, "Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word 'tatua' means to leave a mark. Like a rite of passage."

"Yeah, you see?" Scott grinned at the tattoo artist before peering at his best friend, "He gets it."

"He's covered in tattoos," Stiles pointed out, "Literally."

"Okay, you ready?" The artist interrupted, holding out his pen-like needle, "You ain't got any problems with needles, do you?"

Scott confidently shook his head, "Nope."

* * *

Afterward, Scott and Stiles piled into Stiles jeep. Stiles peered over at the teen wolf, who was grimacing, "You okay?"

"Kinda burns," Scott murmured, fingering the white gauze around his rite of passage.

"Yeah, you just had your skin stabbed about 100,000 times with a needle," Stiles pointed out.

Scott winced, "Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this." He suddenly jumped, hissing at the burning sensation in his arm, "No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this." He scratched at the cover around his arm, "I gotta take this thing off."

"No, no," Stiles whined, "No, no, Scott. Please stop."

Scott ignored him though, peeling the bandage over layer by layer until he revealed his reddened tattoo slowing disappearing from his tanned skin, "Oh no, what? No, come on," he pleaded to his body as the black bands slowly dissipated from his arm, "It healed."

"Ah, thank God," Stiles groaned, "I hated it."

Scott gave him an incredulous look.

"Sorry."

* * *

Jessie sighed, peering down at the hoards of books she's collected over four months of identity searching. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

"Jessie!" Her father's voice called out from downstairs. Jessie sighed and brushed the hair that escaped from her bun away from her eyes. She flopped the large tome from her lap onto her now-green bed spread and trudged her way downstairs.

She found her father in the living room, looking at medical papers and such she assumed. "Yeah, dad?"

Her father looked up at her through his glasses, "Your mom just called."

"Oh..." Jessie trailed off awkwardly. She barely spoke to her mother in the past two months. She spent most of her energy after her family had been kidnapped to try and convince them all to leave Beacon Hills. The catch was that she wanted to stay behind. She had to find out who she really was and she could only do that in her birth place. It took a lot of unarguable logic and well-placed tearful fears, but Jessie finally convinced her mother that they'd all be safer somewhere else and she could only stay so she could learn what her powers were. Her mother's own catch though was that her father was staying.

"She said she called you yesterday but you didn't answer," Hunter stated, perturbed.

Jessie shrugged, "I was asleep."

Hunter sighed, scratching at the scuffle on his chin, "Jessie, I know you miss your boyfriend. And I know you're worried about your brother and you need to figure out whatever abilities you might have or something but—but you can't just shut yourself down. You can't go into hibernation because of what happened."

_"Alexander! Emily! We're in here!"_

_And out of the shadows walked Alex and Emily, looking guilty and ashamed as they faced Jessie, pulling four people behind them with cloaks over their heads to hide their identity. A sick feeling inside her stomach told Jessie exactly who they were._

_"Alex? Emily?" She gasped at the sight of her friends, "What—How could you?"_

_"Jessie, listen to us," Emily begged, "We didn't want to hurt you-"_

_"You lied to me," Jessie cursed at them, "You've been lying to all of us this entire time! I know you're real name is Wolfgang. I knew your father was a hunter. But I was so stupid to think you weren't in on it."_

_"We did what we were told to do," Alex told her, pleadingly, "We never wanted this-"_

_"Shut up—just shut up!" She shouted, "I don't want to hear it."_

_Matthias rolled his eyes, "So much for gaining her trust, children. Now, don't be rude, introduce our guests."_

_Everyone watched on baited breath as Emily and Alex pulled the hoods of each person's head._

_Revealing Paula Hansen, Hunter Hansen, Bethany Hansen and Marissa Jude._

_"Jessie," Bethany begged, her voice cracking with tears, "What's happening, Jessie? Who are these people?"_

_Jessie tried to stay strong in front of her sister, "They're bad people, Bethy. But it'll be okay—I'm gonna get you out of this."_

_Bethany nodded tearfully, trying to edge closer to their dad for comfort._

_Jackson's body hissed as he rose up on his haunches, coming to crouch protectively in front of Jessie. "You can't have him Gerard," Jessie smirked, "Not as long as I'm alive."_

_"That's what we were afraid of, love," Matthias voiced as Gerard raised his gun and shot Jessie in the chest._

_Hunter struggled with his bonds, trying violently to get free and kill the man who just shot his daughter. But it was no use. Paula and Bethany both sobbed out, digging themselves into Hunter's side._

"We can't just put the genie back in the bottle dad," Jessie sighed, "I can't just act like I'm normal anymore."

Hunter went to say something awkwardly soothing to his daughter when they heard a large crash and saw glass shattering on the floor of their living room. "What the hell!?" The father and daughter walked over to the sight and saw something that made them want to vomit. A collarless cat with midnight black hair and frozen open blue eyes laid ripped to ribbons on their living room carpet.

"Did it do that to itself?" Jessie gasped, surveying the glass still sticking out of it's back.

Hunter took Jessie by her shoulders and steered her off to the kitchen, "Let's just clean this up."

* * *

Hunter had been called in on emergency. Two teens were being pulled in from an attack. He was shocked to see that one of them was his daughter's boyfriend.

"Hey, wait," Melissa McCall voiced to the EMTs wheeling a shirtless and bloody Isaac Lahey in, "I know this one." She quickly took Isaac's hand and started feeling his forehead, "What happened, Isaac?"

The boy groaned, "The girl, all right, she's worse, okay?"

"Are you not healing?" Melissa hissed in panic.

"I will," he sighed as the EMTs forced her away from him. She rushed over to the girl behind him and took her hand, "Hey, sweetie, we're gonna take care of you, okay?"

"Find him," she whispered lucratively, "I have to find him."

"What are you saying?" Melissa coached her.

"I have to—I have to tell him..." The girl whispered.

"Who?" Melissa pleaded patiently.

"The Alpha."

Melissa paused to turn with the gurney around a corner, "What do you want with Derek Hale?"

"No," the girl murmured, blinking and shaking her head.

"What?" Melissa asked her. But the girl was fading. Melissa sighed, stepping away from her and speaking to the EMTs, "Okay, let's get her out of here."

Hunter caught up with Melissa and caught her by her elbow, "Melissa, what's going on? What happened to Isaac?"

The nurse sighed, rubbing her forehead, "I don't know—that girl is looking for Derek to tell him something. Isaac will heal though."

"I should call Jessie," Hunter murmured.

"No, don't do that," Melissa immediately denied, "She'll just worry herself to death. He's going to heal. You can just bring him home to her when he does."

Hunter sighed, "Sure..."

* * *

I sighed when my alarm clock woke me up for the first day of school. I did not want to go. But I had to. Like any High School, I knew everyone – even my friends – were bringing their A-Game to the first day of school. I decided to go for the more reserved look, wearing a gray and burgundy thermal with dark burgundy jeans, floral vans and my canvas bag. I put on some simple make up and stuffed my bag with supernatural tomes before walking downstairs.

I went to grab an apple from the kitchen and paused when I saw no bowl of fruit in the middle of the island. Mom took it when she and Bethany moved out. I cast a look around the nearly bare kitchen. It was so empty now.

I shook my head, I couldn't think of that. I strapped my bag on my shoulder and left.

I pulled up just as Scott pulled up in his new green bike. I got out of my car to see Scott staring at the much more impressive motorcycles parked in the spaces next to him. I rolled my eyes, "Ignore those, Scott. I still can't believe Melissa let you get your bike."

Scott shrugged, "I had to save up for something."

"I'm guessing a college fund was out of the question," I joked. Scott mock-glared at me, throwing an arm over my shoulder as we walked toward the High School.

"Hear from Isaac yet?" Scott asked as we crossed the threshold.

I sighed, "No. What if something happened?"

Stiles came up to us just then, "What are we talking about?"

Scott took his arm from me to situate his backpack, "Isaac."

Stiles groaned inwardly, "Why?"

"He went after Baako weeks ago Stiles!" I pointed out indignantly, "I've been worried sick about him."

"We're all worried, Jessie," Stiles assured me, "But there are other things going on. Did Scott tell you about our run in we had with Allison and Lydia last night?"

I looked at Scott, who groaned, "Yeah, a deer committed suicide with Lydia's windshield."

"What?" I shrieked, "What deer?"

Scott looked at me, "Last night a deer ran head first for their car and killed itself. I felt it—it was terrified of something."

"Are you serious right now?" I asked, paling, "Because a stray cat did the same thing with my living room window last night."

"You're kidding," Stiles wondered animatedly, slapping his face with his hands, earning an unimpressed look from both me and Scott that made him shrink a little, "You're not kidding."

"No I'm not," I scowled.

"We should talk to Derek," Scott suggested as we passed a bulletin board, "He should know that this stuff is going on."

"Don't you think he has his hands a little full?" Stiles asked, pointing out the missing posters featuring Erica and my brother Baako.

"I think we have our hands a little full too," I pointed out.

* * *

Isaac grimaced as Melissa's gloved hands peeled off the sides of his bandage where the Twin Teen Wolves slashed at his side. Melissa sighed under her breath, "Yeah, that's healing, visibly. They can't see this."

"Nobody can see this," Isaac agreed, looking toward the door, "Alright, cover it up."

Melissa re-taped his bandage, "I—I don't think that's gonna matter. I mean, you're scheduled for surgery, which is obviously gonna be very confusing for a lot of people."

"Okay, can you do something?" Isaac implored.

"Me do something?" Melissa asked incredulously, "I'm relatively new to all of this," she waved her hand over his injury, "And there's a sheriff's deputy that's stationed right outside the door."

"Have you tried calling Derek?" The teen asked.

"Like five times!" Melissa exclaimed frustratedly, "Do you have any other emergency werewolf contacts?"

Isaac thought for a moment, "Yeah. Call Scott and Jessie."

* * *

We all walked into English class—I was glad to have it with my boys. I took the seat behind Scott while Stiles sat next to him. After us walked in Allison with her new I'm-a-good-girl-now hairdo and Lydia. Lydia took the seat next to Stiles, leaving the only available seat in front of Scott.

I could tell she just desperately searched for a seat elsewhere as Scott innocently looked around too. Her eyes locked in on one next to me, but the look of my face must've told her not to. Scott may have forgiven her. Lydia may not know there's something to forgive. But I held fast to the now-shattered trust I had in her. She helped kidnap my family and stabbed my boyfriend. She was nothing to me anymore and she knew it.

So she had no choice but to ask Scott, "Is someone-"

"No," Scott interrupted her, "No, no, no, it's all you—all yours," he fumbled, gesturing for her to sit, "Uh, it's totally vacant."

She winced and took a seat in front of him.

Just then my phone vibrated in my pocket and I heard ring tones blasting throughout the classroom as I and every other student with a cell phone looked to see a paragraph of text come through. A voice rang out, reading out loud the words on our cellular screens, "The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

Tan heels clicked on the classroom floor as we saw our new English teacher read from her own phone before looking up at us with a smile, "This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."

I ignored her and put my phone in my pocket, raising my hand. When she nodded at me, "Yes?" I lowered it and asked, "How'd you get our cell numbers?"

She smiled easily, "School records."

I quirked my lips and narrowed my eyes, "Our cell numbers aren't on the school records—our home numbers are."

"Why don't we start with..." she ignored me.

* * *

Melissa cursed as she got her son's voice mail again. Hunter peered over her shoulder, "He didn't answer?"

"No," She sighed, "Try Jessie."

Hunter grimaced at the thought of his daughter getting involved in something so potentially dangerous again by the sight of her boyfriend's wounds, but he relented, lifting up his phone to type a text.

* * *

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket while we read from a handout in class. I slowly pried it out to see a text from my dad.

_Isaac's in the hospital from some attack. He's healing but he's scheduled for surgery and we don't want questions. Scott and Derek aren't answering. Help._

My throat nearly closed up at the thought of Isaac hurt but I knew he'd heal. But there'd be some hard to answer questions if anyone else saw. I leaned forward after putting my phone away to poke Scott in the shoulder.

Before he could look back at me the principal walked in and whispered something to Miss Blake. "Scott McCall and Jessica Hansen?" We both looked up and followed her outside the classroom. She peered over at Scott, "Mr. McCall, um, I'm sure it's an emergency if your mother needs you to leave school, but I'm gonna give you a warning in the nicest possible way. I am well aware of your attendance record." Scott nodded along, wanting to see what was going on and I wanted to get out of here, "I don't wanna see you slip back into old habits."

"I won't," He assured her, "It's gonna be different this year."

"Resolutions are only good if you stick with them, Scott," Blake warned.

"I promise it won't be ephemeral," He grinned before taking my arm to lead me off.

I snickered, "Is that your word of the day?"

"Shut up," He smiled at me.

* * *

We walked toward my car figuring it'd be faster that way when I threw a hand into Scott's to stop him, "Wait."

"What?" He looked back at me concerned.

"I have a bad feeling," I murmured, looking toward the window to our English class before turning around, "...Scott..."

"What?" He asked again before turning around to see what I was looking at. I could see his eyes widen upon the sight of a murder of black birds heading toward the school. Half of them were aiming for the school, plenty headed straight for us.

"Get down!" Scott shouted just as some of the birds slammed into the car in front of us and slammed into us. He gathered me into his arms and crouched down on the ground behind the nearest car. I could hear their bodies slam into the metal side of the car and crashed into the windows. Glass shattered above us as Scott covered my body with his.

As suddenly as it all happened it suddenly stopped. Scott lifted his head to look around before helping me stand up from the street. We looked around at the litter of dead bird bodies, bloody and extended all over the place.

"What the Hell?"


	2. Prophecies

_"Blood can be hard to get out of clothes," a haggard voice whispered, almost not meaning to be heard._

_"What?" I asked, peering through bushes and tree branches to find myself in a clearing. I saw an old woman, impossibly old, scraping clothes against the rocks in a stream. She was cleaning one garment, clutching it in her hands. Scarlet stained the clothes and the woman was trying to wash it out._

_She looked up at me with vibrant green eyes that looked too young for her, "Blood is hard to wash out. Blood is hard to forget."_

_I stared at the dark shirt in her hands as the red blood dripped out of it and washed into the stream. But the water never grew clear—it never even grew pink. The stream was continuously red._

_"Whose is that?"_

_"You know who," She answered, "You know who you're going to lose."_

RING. RING. RING.

I groaned, waking up from that... nightmare. I looked at my phone to see that Stiles was calling. I sighed, looking back over my shoulder at Isaac, still sound asleep. I sat up, carefully moving his arm from my waist and answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hey Jessie," Stiles' chirpy voice sounded, "Do you want to come to a party tonight? Scott and I are going."

I looked down at my boyfriend's peaceful face and knew I didn't want to be anywhere else, "No, thank you, I want to stay with Isaac."

"Are you sure?" Stiles asked, "You really need to take a break—get a load off."

"I don't need to get anything off," I dissuaded him, "I just want to make sure Isaac's okay. You guys have fun. Don't let Scott mope."

"Sure thing," Stiles promised, "Don't worry too much."

I smiled, "Okay, have a good time guys." I hung up the phone and set it on the table beside me.

I heard Isaac stir when I hung up the phone, "Hey you. Go back to sleep."

He smiled tiredly up at me, "Take your own advice."

I laid back down next to him and pressed my lips to his, "I just had a dream. Woke me up."

He gave me a concerned look, his eyebrows cinching in the middle, "What was it about?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, looking into his eyes as we laid side by side facing each other, "This old woman... she was washing blood out of clothes in a stream. She told me 'blood is hard to forget.' When I asked her whose clothes she was washing, she said..." I paused in thought, "She said I knew who I was gonna lose."

"What does that mean?" Isaac asked, perturbed.

I shrugged, "I don't know. There was something familiar about what she was doing—washing blood out of clothes. It has to mean something."

"You'll figure it out," He told me, leaning over to kiss my forehead, "You're smarter than anyone I know."

* * *

Stiles and Scott walked down the sidewalk in the dark night toward a big house full of lights. They wanted Jessie to come but she decided to stay with Isaac and Derek. Stiles saw Scott's less than excited demeanor, "What?"

Scott looked at him, "What, what do you mean, 'what'?"

"I mean 'what' and you know what," Stiles babbled.

"'What' what?" Scott asked annoyed.

"That look you were giving," Stiles accused.

"I didn't give a look," Scott denied.

Stiles gave him a look. "Oh, there was a distinct look, Scott."

"What look?" Scott sighed frustratedly.

"The look that says that the last thing you feel like doing right now—is going to a party," Stiles summed up.

"It's not that," Scott hedged, "It just seems weird going to a different high school's party."

"What? Would you," Stiles broke off in a groan of frustration, "God, one drink, all right? You'll be fine. I went to nursery school with this girl, okay? She promised to introduce us to all of her friends. So tonight," Stiles agreed, "No Allison, no Lydia, no werewolves. Tonight, you're moving on, and I'm moving forward."

"You're right," Scott sighed resignedly.

"You're right, I'm right," Stiles agreed.

"Moving on," Scott coached himself.

"Onward and upward," Stiles elaborated excitedly.

"Let's do this," Scott psyched himself up.

"That's what I'm talking about," Stiles beamed as he and his best friend did the up-high and down-low high fives.

The duo walked into the house, hearing a voice call out excitedly, "Stiles! Hi!"

Stiles smiled friendlily at the blonde girl approaching them, "Hey. There's the birthday gir-" but her lips smashing to his in a kiss interrupted the end of his sentence.

Scott gaped at the scene – impressed.

The blond birthday girl broke off the kiss and grinned at Stiles' stunned expression, "So glad that you made it."

Stiles stammered, "Ye—yeah. Me too."

Heather grinned and grabbed his hand, "Come help me pick out a bottle of wine?"

Stiles looked a little dull-eyed as he numbly followed her, "Su-ure."

Scott sighed, looking around the party.

"Scott?"

Scott turned around to see a pretty girl with curly dark hair cut above her shoulders and blue green eyes looking up at him in surprise, "I'm Georgie—from English class."

"Oh," Scott said dumbly, "Hey."

Georgie smiled awkwardly, "I didn't expect anyone from my own school to be here."

Scott shrugged, "Yeah, Stiles knows the birthday girl and dragged me along. How do you know Heather?"

"Heather and I have known each other since forever," Georgie said, "We went to different middle schools so we kinda lost touch but we stayed friends. It's funny, I was friends with Stiles too but he just kinda got wrapped up in Lydia Martin."

"Oh," Scott answered even more dumbly, hearing the blip in her heart over Stiles' and Lydia's names.

Georgie shrugged, "It's whatever."

"He's kinda done with her now," Scott said, but stopped when he realized what his best friend was doing with another girl right now, "But, um..."

"Don't worry," Georgie appeased him, "I've gotten over my little crush a while ago."

Scott shrugged, "Well..." he cut off when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and saw Allison's face flashing across the screen, "Um, sorry I gotta take this..."

"Sure," Georgie waved her hands at him, "Go ahead."

* * *

Scott walked outside the house just as Allison and Lydia piled out of her car. Scott paused upon seeing the strawberry blonde, "This isn't the talk we were gonna have, is it?"

Allison slowly shook her head, averting her eyes, "I need to show you something." She pulled up her sleeve and showed Scott the weirdly shaped bruise on her arm from where the girl looking for him earlier had grabbed her. Scott held her arm in his hand, looking at the bruise.

* * *

Isaac paced the floor of the loft space he and Derek moved into. I sat on the bed over in the corner. "You know, I'm starting not to like this idea. Sounds kinda dangerous."

"It is dangerous," I pointed out. Derek sat at the table they had, reading a book.

"You know what?" Isaac paused, "I definitely don't like this idea, and I definitely don't like him," he said before going over to sit next to me on the bed.

"You'll be fine," Derek muttered.

"Does it have to be him?" Isaac whined.

"He knows how to do it," Derek answered, "I don't. Be more dangerous if I tried doing it myself."

"You know Scott doesn't trust him, right?" Isaac mentioned, taking my hand in his, "You know, personally, I'd—I'd trust Scott."

"Do you trust me?" Derek asked, looking up at his Beta.

"Yeah," Isaac answered immediately, "I still don't like him."

"Nobody likes him," Derek droned just as the large metal doors were thrown open by none other than...

Peter Hale.

"Boys," The ex-Alpha smirked, strutting into the loft, "F.Y.I, yes, coming back from the dead has left my abilities somewhat impaired, but the hearing still works. So I hope you're comfortable saying whatever it is that you're feeling straight to my face."

Derek stared up at him blank-faced and stated in a bored tone, "We don't like you," he slammed his book shut and stood up to his full height, "Now shut up and help us."

"Fair enough," Peter accepted.

* * *

I bit at my nails nervously as Isaac sat fidgeting in a chair while Peter walked around him, "Relax. I'll get more out of you if you're calm."

"How do you know how to do this again?" Isaac asked him as Peter stood behind him.

"It's an ancient ritual used mostly by alphas, since it's a skill that requires quite a bit of practice," he pulled out his claws, "One slip, and you could paralyze someone. Or kill them."

"But you have had a lot of practice," I stated, "Right?"

"Well," Peter paused, "I've never paralyzed anyone." He prepared to strike with his claw.

Isaac's hand tilted, "Wait, does that mean that you—" he was cut off when Peter stabbed his claw into the back of his neck. I gasped as my boyfriend's arms reached up on instinct to grab at Peter but the older man held him still.

Peter gasped, his eyes glowing bright blue, "Wait, I see them."

Derek and I couldn't see what he was seeing. A few moments later he abruptly pulled away from Isaac, panting over against a pillar. I rushed to kneel in front of my boyfriend as his hand went to the back of his neck. "Are you okay?"

Isaac grimaced at me, brushing my lips with his, "I'll be fine."

"What'd you see?" Derek asked his Uncle.

"It was confusing," Peter panted, "Um, im-images. Vague shapes."

"But you saw something," Derek goaded.

Peter nodded, revealing, "Isaac found them."

I looked up at the teen wolf and smiled, "You found them."

"I don't remember," Isaac whispered.

"Erica and Baako?" Derek elaborated.

"I barely saw them," Peter admitted, "I mean, glimpses."

"But you did see them!" I stood up, pushing him, "You saw my brother."

"Worse," Peter muttered.

"Deucalion," Derek realized.

"He was talking to them," Peter tried to grasp, "Something about time running out."

"What does it mean?" Isaac asked, looking at his alpha.

"He's gonna kill them," Derek told us. I flinched and felt Isaac take my hand. He pulled me into his lap and hugged his arms around me.

"No, no, no," Peter denied, "He didn't say that. He did make them a promise that by the full moon they'd both be dead."

Derek scowled, "The next full moon?"

Peter looked up at us, "Tomorrow night."

* * *

Apparently Lydia and Allison had matching bruises that must mean something and since Scott was still in love with her, he dragged Derek and me over to listen to her. I never forgave Allison for what she did. I think that much was obvious. But besides that, I didn't trust her. She couldn't be trusted with the lives of my family, friends, Isaac. And she couldn't be trusted with Scott's heart. All she's done and all she ever will do with it—is break it.

Derek stared unimpressed at the bruises Lydia and Allison displayed, "I don't see anything."

"Look again," Scott requested.

"How is a bruise gonna tell me where Baako and Erica are?" Derek asked impatiently.

"It's the same on both sides," Scott stated, "Exactly the same."

"It's just a bruise, Scott," I told him, standing between him and Derek, "It doesn't mean anything and it's not gonna help me find my brother."

"They're trying to help," Scott told us.

Derek's eyebrows raised up toward his forehead, "Help? These two?" he gestured to Lydia, "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic Uncle. Thank you for that," he smiled at her sarcastically before pointing at Allison, "And this one, who shot about 30 arrows into me and my pack."

"Okay, all right, now, come on," Stiles spoke up, "No one died, all right? Look, there may have been a little maiming, okay, a little mangling, but no death."

Allison peered at Derek and whispered, "My mother died."

I crossed my arms, "Derek didn't kill her."

Allison went to say something but Derek interrupted her, trying to stop the confrontation, "Your family's little honor code killed your mother. Not me."

Allison straightened up and steeled herself, "That girl was looking for Scott. I'm here to help him, not you two."

"You call this helping him?" I scoffed.

Scott pulled me and Derek off to the side to talk to us, "Guys, give her a chance. Okay? They're on our side now."

"Well then maybe you should tell her what her mother was actually trying to do that night," Derek snarled at him before leaving.

"I can't forgive her, Scott," I whispered to him.

"You forgave Alex and Emily," Scott pointed out exasperatedly.

"They actually apologized," I hissed, "They didn't kidnap and torture my brother, they didn't stab my boyfriend ten times and they didn't break my best friend's heart and then just run away!"

Scott softened, sighing, "You don't have to protect me."

"Yes I do," I whispered, "I do. You're my best friend, Scott, I love you. And being around her hurts you."

Scott took my shoulders in his hands, "I'm okay, Jessie. I'm gonna be okay," he brought me closer to hug me. Looking over his shoulder, I saw Allison staring at us. I gave her a glare and wrapped my arms around my best friend, "I hope so."


	3. Doamne

Coach Finstock slammed the Intro to Business textbook on the desk, getting all of our attention, "The stock market is based on two principles. What are they?"

Scott raised his hand and Coach immediately said, "Yes, McCall, you can go to the bathroom."

Scott deflated a little but still went on to say, "Uh, no, Coach, I know the answer."

Finstock immediately began to laugh hysterically before he saw Scott's straight face, "You're serious."

"Yes," Scott answered, "Risk and reward."

Finstock gaped, clapping and grinning, coming to stand in front of Scott, "Wow! Who are you? And what have you done to McCall?" he held up his hand, "Don't answer that. I like you better—I like you better." He stood straight and started walking back to the front of the room, "Does anybody have a quarter? A quarter."

Stiles dug around in his pockets for one and quickly handed it to the teacher. Finstock swiped his empty coffee mug from his desk and laid it on the floor, "Risk and reward. Put the quarter in the mug, win the reward." He gripped the quarter between two fingers and went to crouch away from the mug, facing it, "Okay, watch coach." He took a breath and proceeded to bounce the quarter on the floor. After the first bounce, it landed with the mug with an audible clink, prompting the class to applaud. "Okay," Finstock picked up the quarter and handed it to Danny, "Risk, reward."

"What's the reward?" Danny asked curiously.

Finstock thought on it for a second with a 'hmm' before replying, "You don't have to take the pop quiz tomorrow."

"Coach," Danny began awkwardly and quietly, "It's not a pop quiz if you tell us about it."

"Danny, you know, I really expect more from you at this point," Finstock chastised, "Really," he picked up the quarter and proceeded to hand it to Scott, "McCall. Risk, reward—the risk; if you don't put that quarter in the mug, you have to take the pop quiz tomorrow—and you have to write an essay." He held up one hand, "Risk, more work," and then held up his other one, "Reward, no work at all," he straightened up, giving a third option, "Or choose not to play."

Scott paused, fingering the quarter, "But isn't this just chance?"

"No," Finstock shook his hand, "You know your abilities, your coordination, your focus, past experience—all factors affecting the outcome," he paused, "So what's it gonna be, McCall? More work, no work, or choose not to play?"

I noticed Scott staring deeply at the quarter and I knew that he was contemplating much more than a quarter game. The game was much bigger in his mind. There was more at stake than a pop quiz and an essay. There was life and death of the people we love around us at stake. But we didn't have the choice of not playing. And so far, it had only been risk by risk by risk—no reward on the horizon. At least, none that I've seen yet.

Scott slowly place the quarter down on the desk, so Finstock picked it back up, "No play. Okay. Who's next?" He looked around the silent classroom until Stiles excitedly drummed on his desk and stood up to play. Finstock cheered, "There ya go! There's a gamblin' man! Come on! Step up, step up."

Stiles was jittery in his movements as he prepared to aim the quarter for the mug when we all heard, "Stiles."

We all looked toward the door to see the Sheriff and his deputy standing in the doorway of the classroom but Stiles didn't realize it yet, "Yeah, Coach, I got it."

"Stiles," the Sheriff repeated finally getting his attention.

When they were outside talking, I saw Scott carefully lean forward to eavesdrop on their conversation. Danny eventually got up to take his turn and fist-pumped the air, "Yes!" when the quarter fell into the mug.

Finstock grinned, "Reward! Okay, who's next? Greenberg, put your hand down. You don't have a chance."

I slowly raised my hand, "Me."

Finstock's brows went up to his forehead, "Hansen? Nice. Let's go!" he handed me the quarter and I stepped up, sharing a look with Scott as I walked up to the front. I quietly stood facing the mug and let myself concentrate. Risk... or reward? I'd like to see a reward for once. And not just a temporary reward that only lasted as long as you took the risks. I want something that lasted me forever.

I took a deep breath and flipped the quarter onto the floor.

_Clink_.

The quarter bounced off the floor before it landed in the mug with an audible clunk.

The class clapped as I went back to my seat. Scott looked back at me with a curious look and mouthed 'What's up?'

I shrugged and mouthed 'It's nothing.'

* * *

Lydia and Allison sat in the library 'studying'. Allison was trying to find out what the symbol was on her and Lydia's arm and Lydia was staring at the new twins. "I want one."

Allison peered behind at the twin brothers before back at her friend, grinning, "Which one?"

Lydia gave her a deadpan look, "The straight one. Obviously."

The girls both looked back at the twins to witness one of the twins sharing a look with Danny as he walked by. Poor Danny was so distracted that he ran into another guy, embarrassed as hell.

Allison turned back around when Lydia's coffee cup caught her eye. She picked it up and looked at the logo printed on it in green, "What if it's not a symbol? What if it's actually a logo?" She looked in front of her and noticed that Lydia wasn't there anymore. She peered around behind her to see the strawberry blonde flirting it up with the straight twin.

* * *

Scott, Stiles, Emily and Jessie rounded the corner as Scott was saying, "So you think they kidnapped Heather to turn her?"

Stiles shrugged, "Derek says it's easier to turn teenagers."

"But it doesn't make sense," Jessie but in, "It's a pack of Alphas, collecting more Alphas – aka: Derek."

"Yeah, what would they need with a beta wolf?" Scott asked.

"Scott, I don't know," Stiles sighed exasperated, "I don't care. All right? This girl—our moms were best friends before mine died, all right? We used to take frickin' bubble baths together when we were three. I gotta find her."

Emily sighed, "Stiles—it'll be okay. We'll find her."

"We need Isaac to remember," Scott told him.

"How?" Stiles asked, lost, "Peter and Derek couldn't do it."

"They got bits and pieces," Jessie defended, "But maybe we need someone who knows more about werewolves."

"Deaton," Scott summed up, "Let's get to work."

* * *

Derek, Stiles and Scott emptied ice bag after ice bag into Deaton's large tub he had set up in the back of the vet's office. Isaac, Deaton and I stood in the doorway as Deaton told Isaac, "Obviously, it's not going to be particularly comfortable. But if we can slow your heart rate down enough, you'll slip into a trance-like state."

"Like being hypnotized," Isaac guessed as Deaton walked us into the room next to the tub.

Deaton nodded, "Exactly. You'll be half transformed. It'll let us access your subconscious mind."

"How slow does his heart rate need to be?" Scott asked, concerned.

"Very slow," Deaton answered reluctantly.

"Okay, well, how slow is very slow?" Derek asked impatiently.

Deaton looked grim as he answered, "Nearly dead."

Isaac kneeled over the tub, resting his elbows on the very edge of the cold metal, "It's safe, though, right?"

"Do you want me to answer honestly?" Deaton peered down at him.

Isaac looked back down at the ice water, "No... no, not really."

I could see the storm in my boyfriend's eyes as he decided whether or not to risk his life for his memories. I put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him up. I grabbed his face to make him look at me, "Isaac—you don't have to do this. We can find some other way that doesn't mean risking your life."

We gently took my hands into his and held them on his neck, "We need to find Baako and Erica. I'll be okay."

I took in a shaky breath and nodded, "Okay—I'll be right here for you if anything happens, okay?"

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure me, "It's gonna be fine." He took my shoulders into his arms and brought me into a tight hug, kissing my cheek and whispering, "I love you."

"I love you too," I murmured into his shirt-clad shoulder before pulling away.

Isaac stripped off his shirt so he was only in his jeans. He started to climb into the tub as Derek and Scott took off their coats to put their hands on his shoulders on each side of him. They then pushed him down until his whole body was under water. After a moment of being submerged, Isaac shot out of the tub, his eyes wide open and glowing amber as his fangs slipped out of his gums in mid-transformation. He started thrashing in the tub as Scott and Derek tried desperately to hold him down. "Isaac," I pleaded, "Isaac, babe, it's okay! It's okay!"

Eventually Isaac was fully submerged in the water, motionless and calm. His face floated up to the surface and I heard him take a shaky breath into his lungs. Deaton looked at all of us calmly, "Now, remember, only I talk to him. Too many voice will confuse him and draw him out."

We all solemnly nodded so he proceeded, "Isaac? Can you hear me?"

His eyes were still closed and I could see that his lips were turning a pale blue color when they parted to whisper, "Yes—I can hear you."

"This is Dr. Deaton," Deaton answered him in a clear and calm voice, "I'd like to ask you a few questions. Is that all right?"

Isaac let out a shaky, "Yes," through his chattering teeth.

"I want to ask you about the night you found Erica and Baako," Deaton told him, "I want you to remember it for me in as vivid detail as possible, like you're actually there again."

Isaac's face flinched in the water, "I—I don't wanna do that," he started to twitch and move in the water, "I don't—I don't wanna do that," Derek and Scott reached out to hold him still as he kept muttering, "I don't wanna do that." The lights above us started flickering and I desperately wanted to talk to Isaac—tell him that it'll be okay, that they can't hurt him anymore. But I couldn't speak. Deaton said if he heard too many people he'd get too confused, too overwhelmed. So I reached forward and started stroking my hand through his soaking wet hair, like I did the night he first transformed. It had become a sort of habit, a comfort for me to do it to him. He liked it and I liked how it calmed him down.

"Just relax," Deaton soothed as Isaac started to calm down under my ministrations, "Isaac, it's all right. They're just memories. You can't be hurt by a memory."

When Isaac was completely calm, "Good. Now let's get back to that night. To the place you found Erica and Baako. Can you tell me what you see? Is there some kind of building? A house?"

"It's not a house," Isaac answered, eyes still closed, "It's stone. I think marble."

"That's perfect," Deaton shared a look with Derek, "Can you give me any other descriptors?"

"It's dusty," Isaac muttered, "So empty."

"Like an abandoned building? Isaac?" Deaton questioned.

Isaac wasn't answering though. His face started twitching again as he relived whatever he'd gone through that night. "Isaac?"

"Someone's here," he muttered before his eyes shot open and his body started flailing in the water again, prompting Derek and Scott to grab him. His head turned unseeingly to his right as he saw whatever he saw before, eyes frozen open in fear, "Someone's here!"

"Isaac, relax," Deaton tried.

Isaac started kicking his legs, "No, no, no, they see me, they see me!" Stiles shot forward to grab his legs and try to keep him still.

"Just memories," Deaton told him, "You won't be hurt by your memories." I reached forward to stroke his hair again. And I couldn't sworn that his eyes flickered to my face for a millisecond. But it was impossible. He was lost in the memories of facing those monsters. "Relax," Deaton soothed as Isaac calmed under our hands again, "Now tell us what you see. Tell us everything."

"I hear him," Isaac whispered, "He's talking about the full moon, about being out of control when the moon rises."

"Is he talking to Erica?" Deaton asked.

"I think so," Isaac answered uncertainly, "I can't—I can't see her. I ca—can't, I can't see either of them," his teeth chattered violently from the cold.

"Can you hear anything else?" Deaton prompted him.

"They're worried. They're worried what they'll do during the moon," Isaac whispered, "They're worried that they're gonna hurt each other."

Derek looked at Deaton, speaking as softly as he could, "If they're locked in together on the full moon, they're gonna tear each other apart."

Deaton nodded, a sense of new urgency washing over him, "Isaac, we need to find them right now. Can you see them?"

Isaac stared up blankly at the ceiling, shaking his head, "No."

"Do you know what kind of room it is?" Deaton offered, "Is there any kind of a marker? A number on a door? A sign?"

"They're here," Isaac suddenly broke in, "They—They.."

"It's all right," Deaton assured him, "Just tell us."

"No," Isaac flinched, "They see me. They found me!"

Derek growled deep in his throat before grabbing Isaac's shoulder, losing his patience, "Isaac, where are you?"

"I can't see them," Isaac muttered weakly, "It's too dark!"

"Just tell me where you are," Derek demanded.

I barely reigned myself in from snapping at the Alpha, only to keep Isaac from getting more panicked.

"I can't see!" Isaac shouted, tears started to spill from his eyes into the tub as he started flailing in the water. I put my hands on his collar bones under his shoulders as Scott grabbed his other shoulder and Stiles grabbed his legs, trying to keep him from getting too panicked.

My fear spiked when I heard Deaton tell Derek, "His heart rate—he could go into shock."

"Derek, let him go!" Scott insisted.

"Isaac, where are you?" Derek yelled down at his beta, "What did you see?"

"They're dragging me somewhere—some room. There's a dead body," Isaac cried, "It's Erica!"

We kept holding him down, fighting our initial reactions to the news when he suddenly bolted up straight shouting, "A vault! It's a bank vault! I saw it! I saw the name. It's—uh, B-Beacon Hills First National Bank."

Seeing that he was awake now, Scott and I immediately helped him out of the tub as Deaton grabbed a towel to drop on his shoulders. Scott grabbed another one to wrap around him as I wrapped my arms around him, rubbing my hands up and down his forearms to generate his body heat back, "It's, um, it's an abandoned bank, and they're keeping them locked inside, inside the vault."

Isaac looked up, finally seeing us, and when he saw our expressions he asked, "What?"

"You don't remember what you said right before you came out of it, do you?" Stiles asked.

Isaac looked at the human and shook his head, "No."

Stiles hesitated before reluctantly telling him, "You said when they captured you that they dragged you into a room and that there was a body in it."

"What body?" Isaac asked, dreading the answer.

"Isaac," I whispered to my boyfriend, "You said it was Erica."

* * *

"She's not dead," Derek insisted.

Stiles, Scott and I stood against a table on the other side of the room. Isaac sat up on the table, his legs dangling on either side of me and his hands resting around my shoulders. Stiles looked at Derek incredulously, "Derek, he said, 'there's a dead body, it's Erica.' Doesn't exactly leave us much room for interpretation."

"Then who was in the vault with Baako?" Derek asked, grasping at straws, desperate to believe that one of his betas, that he had sworn to protect, wasn't dead, that she was fine.

"Someone else, obviously," Stiles pointed out.

"Maybe it was the girl on the motorcycle," Scott suggested, looking from Derek to Isaac, "The one who saved you?"

I felt Isaac shake his head, based on the movement of his chin resting on my head, "No, she wasn't like us. And whoever was in the vault with Baako was."

"What if that's how Erica died?" Stiles suggested, "They, like, pit them against each other during the full moons and see which one survives. It's like werewolf thunder-dome."

"Then we get them out tonight," Derek determined.

"Be smart about this Derek," Deaton warned, "You can't just go storming in."

"If Isaac got in, then so can we," Derek pointed out.

"But he didn't get through a vault door, did he? We need a plan," Scott said.

"How are we supposed to come up with a plan like that before the full moon?" I asked.

"Uh, I think someone already did," Stiles answered, looking at his phone's screen, "'Beacon Hills First National closes its doors three months after bank vault robbery," he read. He looked up at us, "Doesn't say here how it was robbed, but it probably won't take long to find out."

"How long?" Derek asked him deadpan.

"It's the internet, Derek," Stiles told him with a smug grin, "Okay? Minutes."

* * *

Turns out, minutes could translate into six hours. So six hours later found us all piled in my room, pouring over papers of articles, maps, rough blueprints. We couldn't find anything that told us how the bank was broken into before. We had nothing.

Isaac came over with us to help but he was so wiped out that I convinced him to take a nap on my bed. I sat next to his sleeping body with my laptop on my crossed legs as Stiles and Scott both leaned over my desk.

Scott caught site of all the papers of research tacked on my walls and the stacked of books laid about the floor, some of them open. He veered away from Stiles to sit next to me on the bed, away from Isaac's body pressed against the wall, by his feet. "Jessie, what is this?"

I cast a glance around at the lists of leads on my walls, "Research—into what I am, or could be."

Scott looked around with me before looking at me, "Anything?"

I stared unblinkingly at the screen, "Nothing."

"There's gotta be something in your mom's journal," Scott grasped.

I slowly shook my head, "She mentioned once, finding out my dad's secret. She talked about feeling betrayed and not knowing what to do or if she could be with him anymore. But she got over it. She never mentioned by name what he was though."

"Did your dad have a journal?" Scott asked.

I shrugged, "My mom mentioned one but I don't know where it is."

"You'll find it, Jessie," Scott told me, "I know it."

I looked sideways at him, "Thanks Scott, but I don't know."

Scott reached into my lap to pick up my computer and set it down by him. He brushed his hand on my cheek to turn my face to face him, "What about class today? What was up with that?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, my fingers gripping the ends of the brown strands, "It's just what Finstock was going on about—Risk, reward, or choose not to play. I kind of equated it to what we've gone through. What we're going though. There doesn't seem to be two other options for us. It's all risk. Risk after endless risks, no reward and no chance to get out of the game and choose not to play."

"No reward?" Scott asked me, his brow furrowing, "What do you mean, no reward? What about Isaac? You love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do," I answered without hesitation, "I love Isaac. It's not that at all. It's just-" I broke off with a sigh, "It's just that I can't even get enough of a break from the risks to enjoy the reward. And Scott, look at you."

"Look at me?" Scott asked, his hand coming down to rest on mine on the bed.

I tilted my head apologetically, "Well... life's kinda kicked you in the ass. Getting the bite, dealing with being a werewolf, dating a girl from a hunter family, dealing with Peter, dealing with the kanima, dealing with Derek's new pack, breaking up with Allison—and now this fucking Alpha Pack is coming for us and they have Baako and they killed Erica—and—and," I couldn't finish my sentence as tears started blurring my vision and my throat started closing in on itself and I started to hiccup slightly.

Scott immediately wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder, situating it in the crook of his neck. I felt his other hand come up to stroke my hair as I cried into his shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Stiles swivel around in my desk chair to witness our interaction.

"When is this going to be over?" I whimpered into Scott's shirt.

"Soon," He promised, pulling me up to look at him in the eye, "Soon this will be over. You and Isaac—all of us can live in peace. It's just one more adventure."

"But when is enough, enough?" I questioned for him, "I'm so... tired, Scott."

"I know," he cooed, "I know you are. But soon this will all be over—you of all people deserve the happy ending. You'll find out what your father was, you'll get control of whatever other powers you have, you'll be with Isaac and be happy. I promise."

I lifted my head to look at him, "You deserve to be happy too, Scott."

"I am happy," He tried to reassure me.

But I shook my head, "No you're not—you're miserable."

"What?" he asked me.

"After everything we've been through and we're about to go through, none of us have time to be happy," I explained, "All we seem to have time for is fighting for the chance to be happy."

"And we'll get that chance," Scott swore.

"You're very optimistic lately," I mused with playfully narrowed eyes, "Whats the deal?"

He shrugged with his crooked smile, "It doesn't hurt."

I half-smiled at him, "Thanks, Scott."

He leaned forward to kiss my forehead right on the scar from Allison's arrow last year, "You don't have to thank me for being your friend, Jessie. I'll always be your friend."

* * *

Somewhere around midnight Scott and Stiles took all the research over to his house so that I could go to sleep. But it was 1:30 am now and I was still wide awake. I laid on my side with my back to Isaac's still sleeping form. After a moment I heard his shuffle behind me and then I felt his arm wrap around my waist from behind and his lips press against the side of my neck, "I heard your conversation with Scott earlier."

I tensed in his arms and shifted so I was facing him, "You did?"

He nodded tiredly, "Are you really so scared?"

I averted my eyes from his. He tilted his head down to try and meet my eyes, "Jessie, you know you can talk to me. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I know," I whispered back, "But you have enough on your shoulders, you don't need my hang ups too. Scott just pushed tonight so I talked."

"And you don't have enough on your shoulders?" Isaac shot back, "You carry more than all of us combined, Jessie. You don't have to put up this collected front for me. You don't have to have it together all the time."

"I feel like..." I trailed off, searching for the words to put together, "like nothing is okay. Like I'm slowly losing my mind."

"I wouldn't let you lose your mind," Isaac teased, leaning forward to kiss my lips softly, "It's going to be okay, Jessie. I became this to help protect you and that's what I'm going to do."

* * *

I parked next to Stiles' jeep and walked out to meet them. Stiles threw an arm around me in a one-armed hug before Scott hugged me and then the ADHD flutter-bloom started right in on business, "All right, so we meet at Derek's at 5 to go over the plan, and then we don't get started until dark."

"'Kay," Scott and I said in unison.

"What do we do 'till then?" Stiles asked.

"What, right now?" Scott asked him for elaboration, "We go to English."

* * *

"Alex, what are you doing here?" I asked when I saw said boy leaning against my car after school. I knew he came around campus to pick Emily up. But Emily and I would only really see each other at lunch this year so I wouldn't see him on campus. I slowed my steps when I noticed him, stopping at the edge of the sidewalk so I wasn't so close to him. Yes, I forgave him and Emily for what they did. But Alex's feelings for me hadn't waned yet that I knew of so I was still wary around him. I couldn't offer him what he wanted from me so I had to hold back.

"I'm not here to beg again," Alex led off.

"Good," I interrupted him, "Because you know I've already forgiven you. That doesn't explain why you're here though. Shouldn't you be getting Emily?"

"I already gave her my keys. I need to talk to you and we shouldn't do it here," He stated, "I'll drive."

"How do you expect me to go anywhere alone with you?" I shot at him, "You do realize who we are, right?"

"Yes, I realize that," he sighed exasperatedly, "Trust me, I do. But there are things that you need to know and I can't tell you with just anyone around to hear. So could you please—just trust me? Please."

I looked into his face, seeing the sincerity and concern and desperation in his blue eyes. I wanted to trust him. But after everything that had happened, my trust in a lot of people had been shaken. I knew he was trustworthy when it came to being my friend. But his love confession was still out there—just hanging in the air like a flopping fish on a hook. We knew it was there, but we didn't know how to deal with it. I'm just a seventeen year old girl, I don't know what to do with something like that from my friend.

Eventually I caved and sighed, "Okay. But talk fast, I have to be at Derek's by five."

* * *

"Why are you heading towards the cemetery?" I asked, noticing the street names we passed.

"I've been spying on my father," Alex revealed to me, "He's been desperate to atone for his failure to your Aunt with little to no success. Apparently, she didn't even tell him what your birth father was. So he's been trying to figure it out on his own. I found some files of your father's genealogy with notes all over it."

"Did you happen to bring these notes?" I asked him.

Alex briefly reached down by his feet and pulled up a backpack to hand to me. I took it from him and pulled out some manilla envelopes with different titles all over it. There was a printed label on one that read;  **Sange Line.**

I started thumbing through the papers of names and dates. "Your dad traced my birth father's family back to 1600 Romania."

"Don't you speak Romanian?" Alex murmured absently while he turned a corner.

"Da," I answered with a slight smirk, exchanging an amused glance with Alex over the papers before he returned his eyes to the road.

I saw a note Matthias made in the margins of the Romanian page.

The scribble said, " _Why did they change their name to Sange?_ "

"What?" I murmured to myself, looking through the names.

"What did you find?" Alex asked me, hearing my crazy people talk.

"Umm... a note," I replied, still looking through the names, but they all said 'Sange', "You're father made a note that my family changed their last name from..." I kept looking and just to the very last couple of names I saw a difference, "Lupei. Funny—that means wolf. Sange means blood."

"So?" he said, "Lots of family names change over time. People get married. People get adopted. So on, so forth."

"But these names had specific meaning," I stated, turning the page over, "Why would my family change their name so specifically?"

"Maybe that's when the new abilities kicked in?" Alex suggested as we pulled up to park in front of the cemetery.

I was looking over a page filled with scribbled of notes.

_**Lucian Lupei changed at age 12 along with mother Ana-Marie and father Dracul.** _

There was a note toward the end of the page circled and highlighted.

"O doamne..." I breathed out in shock.

"What? What is it?" Alex asked as he unbuckled himself.

"Your father wasn't just looking into what my father was," I began, "He figured it out. He knows what I am."


	4. Chains

There was a note toward the end of the page circled and highlighted.

"O doamne..." I breathed out in shock.

"What? What is it?" Alex asked as he unbuckled himself.

"Your father wasn't just looking into what my father was," I began, "He figured it out. He knows what I am."

"Well?" Alex asked impatiently, "What did he find out?"

I was kind of frozen, staring at the sentence and re-reading it in my head over and over again. I glared at the piece of paper as if it were the enemy, "The bastard didn't write it down."

"What?" Alex asked in shock, his hands slipping a little on the steering wheel.

"He wrote that I'm and I quote—"worse than [he] imagined" and he says he needs to confront Wanda immediately but she's ducking his calls," I informed him as he parked the car.

"I guess we'll have to hope that your father's journal really is with his body," Alex stated, letting himself out of the car with me in tow.

"Excuse me?" I asked him as he lead us into the cemetery as if he'd been there with me.

"The other file is full of information about your parents' relationship," He revealed, "How they met, when they met, when and how they died. And who arranged their burials."

"Wait," I stopped in my tracks, "It wasn't Wanda—or Grimm?"

"It was Duster and Hale," He answered, "You can see it in the other file, I photo-copied it all."

"Hale—as in Derek Hale?" I asked, "And who is Duster?"

"Hale as in Talia Hale—Derek's mother," Alex answered me as we resumed walking, he tapped one of the folders I was holding, pointing out a symbol sketched into it with the word Duster written under it.

"It's a trinity knot," I recognized out loud.

Alex mmhmm'd along with me, "It's the symbol for the Duster family. They're a line of Grimms that segregated from the original line because the Head of the Family decided to stop asking questions first."

"Like Gerard and Kate," I realized.

"And Wanda," Alex informed me, "She was a Grimm—not a Duster."

"And my mom?" I asked.

"She was a Grimm too, but based on that file about your parents, she rejected the hunting life completely. And I don't think she had any idea another line of Grimm existed anyway," he said as we reached my parents' mausoleum.

"It's chained?" Alex breathed out in disbelief. As fate would have it, I guess the new cemetery handler put brand new chains on the mausoleums.

"No problem," I smirked, reaching forward and gripping the chains in my hands before ripping them apart. They clanked loudly in the still air as they fell to the ground.

"What's with the eyes?" he stammered in surprise at the sight of my eyes glowing blue.

I blinked slowly until I could feel the buzzing in my body that always accompanied the use of power, "Cool, huh?" I turned to open the door into the mausoleum and lead Alex inside, "Your father said that Wesley's journal was with his body?"

"Yeah," Alex voice sounded so close behind me, it startled me enough to jump. He caught my shoulders in his hands with a laugh, "You okay there?"

I rolled my eyes even if he couldn't see and scoffed, "Fine. Let's do this."

Coming up to their coffins made me remember the day I first came to find them. "You know... the first day I came here I was so lost I needed the shy stuttering cemetery worker to show me the way. That was Isaac—before all of this happened." I leaned against Tanya's resting place and traced her name with my fingers like I did all the time.

_I took the key from my neck and slid it into the large intricate door. It unlocked easily with a creak but it took a couple minutes to push the stiff stone door open. The inside seemed much larger but I knew it was all the same size. There was two coffins laid on stone tables side by side, my parents named etched in gold lettering on each wooden surface._

_Tanya Sange_

_December 12, 1978 – October 14, 1995_

_Wesley Sange_

_June 24th, 1978 – October 14, 1995_

_They were only 17 when they died... only a few months after I was born. I traced my mother's name with my fingers._

"I'm seventeen now," I stated, "The age they were when they died."

"The same thing's not gonna happen to you, Jessie," Alex swore as he walked over to Wesley's coffin, "Do you mind? This might be disturbing."

I considered it. I knew what could be in there—I knew what was in there. And I didn't know if I could face it. But I knew I had to. "Are you going to be here?"

"I'm right here," Alex assured me, "All the time."

I heaved a great sigh from deep within a place inside me I hadn't visited yet, "Do it."

He nodded and pulled up his sleeves before shoving at the lid of the coffin. He pushed from the head so he wouldn't knock into Tanya's coffin and we could see his face closer to where the journal would be. I turned away so I wouldn't see anything I didn't want to. I couldn't handle it. "Tell me when."

I heard him grunt in the effort it took to push. Part of me knew I could unlid the coffin much faster with my strength. But I didn't know how to control it and I couldn't bare it if I broke my birth parents grave in a selfish pursuit of power and answers. I couldn't do it.

I heard the scrapping of stone before it abruptly stopped, "When."

I slowly turned around, afraid of what I would find. I gasped loudly upon what I saw, seeing Alex's eyes were probably as wide as mine were as we stared down into my birth father's coffin.

"He's..." Alex trailed off.

"Preserved," I breathed, finishing his sentence, "Perfectly."

And he was. It almost looked as if he were sleeping. There was no decay, no rot. He looked just like a sleeping teenage boy. Arguably better dressed—in a tux. But none the less, he definitely was not the corpse I was expecting.

"What in the Hell?"

It was easy to say that I must get my looks from my mother. Wesley had brown hair, but it was straight and lighter than mine. His skin was tanned but Caucasian and he was tall, way taller than I am. I thought we had the same nose, maybe the same kind of roughness. He looked like he could take on a bear. I knew this was my birth father I was looking at. I recognized his face from the pictures I had.

"How is this possible?" I whispered.

Alex gave me a scared shrug and shook his head, "I have no idea. But I do see the journal."

Sure enough, there was a large leather bound journal tucked into Wesley's arm. I reached down to grab it, but my fingers brushed against his arm and I flinched away. He was so cold. Cold as ice. I shivered, feeling Alex step behind me, "What's wrong?"

"He's... really cold," I whispered back.

Alex placed a hand on my shoulder, gently squeezing, "I can do it if you can't..."

I shook my head, "No—he's my father. I should be able to get his journal." I reached down again, only slightly cringing when I came into contact with his arm and pulled it off the book, grabbing the journal with my left hand and lifting it into my arms. I replaced Wesley's arms before stepping away, "Can you put the slab back?"

Alex mmhmm'd in response and I exited the mausoleum, putting the journal in my book bag. He had just closed the mausoleum doors when we heard a thickly accented voice shout, "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?"

We turned, startled to see a lightly tanned man with thick black hair coming up to us wearing gardener clothes. "Umm... visiting my parents grave? That's what you do at cemeteries."

The man stood in front of us, an unimpressed look on his face at my answer, "Sure. And what about the broken chains? I just got those."

I shrugged, an innocent look on my face, "You tell me. People keep trying to get in there. Why do you keep chaining it up?"

"Because it was part of their arrangements when they died," The man answered, "Who are you anyway?"

"I told you," I answered, impatiently, "I'm their daughter. I'm allowed to visit them. Who are you?"

"Gavin McGarretty, I own this place now," The man answered in a gruff, deeply Scottish or Irish brogue, "Since the last owner was killed."

"Yeah, I know what happened to him, I'm dating his son," I told him, "We didn't know someone else took this place up."

"Well I did," Mr. McGarretty said shortly, "And now I have to buy new chains for your parents mausoleum."

"I wouldn't bother," I told him, shifting my book bag on my shoulder and swiftly turning on my heel, walking away.

Alex followed behind me, "Think he was telling the truth? Could you tell?"

"He didn't lie," I answered slowly, "But he didn't tell us the whole truth either. He didn't just take over the cemetery. There's something else going on here—and it has something to do with my biological parents."

"Well let's get somewhere we can read the journal," Alex suggested.

I checked the time on my watch, "Can't. I have to meet Scott and Stiles and Derek's loft."

"Now?" Alex asked as we got back to my car. I jumped into the drivers seat, putting my book bag in the back seat as Alex got into the passengers seat.

"Yes, now," I answered, "We're gonna try and get Baako back."

"Can I help?" Ales volunteered as I peeled out of the cemetery and started driving.

"It's better if you don't," I answered reluctantly, driving him to his house.

"Isaac will be there," Alex realized out loud. The two avoided each other like the plague – understandably, neither of them liked the other very much.

I nodded, "You should go home. Catch Emily up or something. We'll let you know if we get Baako back."

So I dropped him off at home and left for Derek's loft.

* * *

Stiles bent over a table with a red sharpie, laying out blueprints of the abandoned bank, "You see this? This is how they got in," he pointed on the map on something that looked like a vent, "It's a rooftop air conditioning vent. Leads down inside into the wall of the vault, which is here," he circled where the vent led into the vault, "Okay? One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft. Now, that space is so small, it took about 12 hours to drill into that wall, which is stone, by the way," He looked around to me and Scott and Derek. Isaac was laying in bed, still exhausted and Peter perched on the winding stairwell, "Then throughout the rest of the night, they siphoned the cash up to the guys back on the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom."

"Can we fit in there?" Scott asked.

"Yes, we can, but very, very barely," Stiles told him, "And they also patched the wall, obviously, so we're gonna need a drill of some kind. I'm think maybe a diamond bit-"

"Look, forget the drill," Derek interrupted.

Stiles broke off his train of thought to give Derek a look, "Sorry?"

Derek looked serious, "If I go in first, how much space do I have?"

"What do you think you're gonna do, Derek?" Stiles straightened up to patronize Derek, "You gonna punch through the wall?"

Derek gave him a sarcastic smile, "Yes, Stiles, I'm gonna punch through the wall."

"Okay, okay, big guy," Stiles nodded equally as sarcastically, "Let's see it—let's see that fist. Big old fist. Make it, come on. Don't be scared."

Derek rolled his eyes, slowly bringing a fist up in the air as Stiles continued to taunt him, "Yeah, look at that." Stiles held his flat palm close to Derek's fist, "Okay, see this? That's maybe 3 inched of room to gather enough force to punch through solid-"

He was cut off when Derek smoothly punched his palm with a bored expression, making the teen spin and fall into the table. Stiles wailed girlishly, pacing while holding his hand close to him. Scott and I gave Derek incredulous looks as Stiles piped up, "He could do it."

"I'll get through the wall," Derek deadpanned.

"What about me?" I chimed in.

Derek and Scott looked at me, "What to you mean, Jessie?"

"I mean, I'm smaller and stronger," I explained, "I can probably fit in there better and get through the wall."

"You could get hurt," Scott argued.

"And you don't have full control yet," Derek added.

I rolled my eyes, "I can control my strength. I can get in there faster than you, Derek. And I can have more room to get through the wall."

"No," Peter's voice suddenly sounded, making us all look at him on the stairs, "It's too dangerous for you."

"Peter," I sighed, "I'm the best shot at this. We need to get Baako back."

"Do I have to remind you what we're up against here?" Peter posed for us, "A pack of alphas. All of them, killers. And if that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant Alpha. I'm sure Erica and Baako were sweet kids. They're gonna be missed."

Stiles leaned against the table again, an irritated expression on his face, "Could someone kill him again, please?"

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. Whether it's me or Derek going in first, someone's gotta follow."

"What about you?" Derek asked, looking past Stiles at Scott.

Stiles thought the question was posed for him though as he started to answer, "Yeah, if you want me to-"

"Not you," Derek interrupted him impatiently.

Stiles looked between him and Scott, "Got it."

Scott looked pensive, staring at the blueprints, "I don't know about Erica. But if Baako's still alive, we have to do something." He looked at me, then Peter, "We have to try."

"But?" Derek asked, knowing there was something else on Scott's mind.

"Who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Baako?"

* * *

Stiles impatiently paced the loft space, staring out at the full moon, "I can't take waiting around like this, you know? It's nerve-racking. My nerves are racked. They're severely racked."

"We don't have a choice," Isaac chimed in from his position on the bed off to the side. He was nervous too—his girlfriend was out there about to face the Alpha Pack that beat him out of commission. But he had to trust her.

"I just—I don't understand the bank, though, okay?" Stiles stammered, over-thinking the whole deal, "Like, why wouldn't they chain them up in some underground lair or something? They're an Alpha pack, right? So shouldn't they have a lair?"

"They're werewolves," Peter droned from his reclined position on Derek's couch, "Not bond villains."

"Wait a sec," Stiles muttered, standing at a hole in the brick wall of Derek's loft that formed a doorway, "Maybe they're living there." He turned to Peter, "Like, maybe the bank vault reminds them of their little wolf dens."

"Wolf dens?" Peter droned sarcastically.

"Yeah, wolf dens," Stiles confirmed, "Where do you live?"

Without opening his eyes, Peter answered with, "In an underground network of caves hidden deep in the woods."

Stiles stopped short, "Whoa, really?"

"No, you idiot," Peter snapped, opening his eyes boredly, "I have an apartment downtown."

Stiles seemed disappointed but he didn't comment as Isaac scoffed a laugh into his pillow. "Okay, fine, but still, that just proves that there's something up with the bank. And why wait around for the full moon, huh? Why not just kill them whenever they want to?"

"Maybe they think it's poetic," Peter suggested sarcastically.

Stiles scoffed, "They've already had three full moons to be poetic."

"And here you've only had one full hour to be so annoying-" Peter broke off mid-thought, his eyes opening upon something occurring to him.

Stiles didn't see the look on his face though, "No, go ahead, finish what you were saying. I'm, ah, I'm annoying-"

"What are the walls made of?" Peter interrupted him, going to stand by the blueprints.

"What?" Stiles asked, glancing around the loft Derek inhabited with Isaac, "Uh, I don't know, like, wood and brick or-"

"No, the vault," Peter clarified him, "The vault, the walls, what are they made out of?" He messed with the papers, looking for the answer, "Where would it say that?"

Stiles began to look at the blueprints with him, "Doesn't say anything."

"Where would it say the materials, the type of stone?" Peter asked him urgently. Isaac sat up in bed, sensing the change in the situation.

"Oh!" A light bulb went off in Stiles' head, searching his backpack and pulling out a stack of papers, "Yeah, here, it's gotta be in there."

* * *

Scott, Derek and I rounded the corner to the back of the bank where there was a metal fire escape against the wall in the back alley way. I held my hand on the wrist of Scott's long sleeve blue shirt, barely shivering in my gray shirt, dark jeans and hooded jacket.

I stopped short, Scott stopping with me, when we got to the fire escape entrance we would be taking. Derek looked at us, "What?"

"There's just something I can't get out of my head," Scott whispered.

"Something doesn't feel right," I seconded, "This is too..."

"The moon's rising, guys," Derek hurried us, "What is it?"

"This is too simple and we don't have all the information," I said, "There has to be more to it."

"They put the triskele on your door four months ago," Scott continued on what I was saying, "What have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?"

"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail," Derek argued with us, frustrated. He just wanted to get his pack mates back.

"But what if this detail is the one that counts?" I posed for him.

"Then we do nothing," Derek shrugged angrily, "And Baako and Erica are dead." He looked at Scott, "I know what I'm risking. My life for theirs." He then turned and swung himself onto one of the metal landings, propelling himself on the raised ladder like some acrobat prodigy.

"Show off," I whispered.

* * *

"There," Stiles stabbed a page of the bound papers with his fingers, "That's it."

"Hecatolite," Peter cursed.

"Is that awful?" Stiles asked, "That sounds awful."

Peter didn't look at him directly as he sternly answered, "Get 'em on the phone. Call them." When Stiles didn't immediately reach for his phone, Peter raised his voice, "Now!"

Stiles jumped, startled, pulling his phone out, "Okay, why?"

"'Cause Baako and that girl aren't going to kill each other," Peter revealed, "They're gonna kill the boys and Jessie."

* * *

It was a tight squeeze in the vents next to the wall. Scott followed Derek while I followed him, until Derek stopped. "Here."

He lifted his fist, ready to punch, when I interrupted, "Are you sure you should do it? You can hurt yourself."

He look at me, his voice short and rough, "So can you. I know what I'm doing."

I kept quiet as he lifted his fist again and punched the wall with all the strength he could muster. The veins in his forearms stood out under his tan skin as he lifted his fist to punch again, and again, and again. It was probably five punches later when the stone wall finally gave under the pressure and shattered into a gaping hole. Derek stalked through, Scott and I following behind.

The vault was void of any money or tools that may have been cramped in here before the bank closed down. I saw a dark figure against the metal bars that separated the vault from some lockers. I stepped closer, coming to stand next to Derek, "Baako?"

"Baako," Derek repeated as my brother slowly turned around.

His face look conflicted, and troubled. I stepped closer, "Baako? It's me, Jessie. We're here to get you out of here."

"Jessie..." Baako's voice whispered, sounding pained and stressed, "You need to leave."

"What?" I asked, shocked.

I heard a ringing and Scott pick up his phone. My enhanced hearing could hear Stiles' voice on the other end, "Scott! Scott! No, listen to me, okay? Look, you gotta get outta there. The walls of the vault are made with a mineral call hecatolite."

"Hecatolite?" I repeated, panic seizing my vocal chords, even though I had no idea what that meant.

"What?" Derek asked me, not paying attention to Scott's phone conversation.

"It scatters the moonlight," Stiles went on to explain, "It keeps the moonlight out, okay? They haven't felt the full moon in months."

"Okay, think of it like the gladiators in the Roman Colosseum," Peter voice broke through, "They used to starve the lions for three days, making them more vicious, more out of control. Deucalion has kept them from shifting for three full moons, diminishing their tolerance to it."

My eyes welled with tears as realization set in on what was about to happen, "No, Baako..."

"Get out of here, Jessie," He roughly whispered back.

"Scott, they're gonna be stronger, more savage, more bloodthirsty. They're the starved lions, and you, Derek and Jessie just stepped into the Colosseum," Peter spelled out for Scott.

"Derek, we've got a problem," Scott said as he pulled the phone away from his ear, "A really big problem."

Baako's body started to roughly shake as growls ripped their way up from his lungs through his throat. And slowly, another shadowy figure – a more feminine one – stalked out from behind the pillar and stood next to Baako.

I felt a shift in Derek's defensive pose as he muttered, "Cora?"

"Who?" Scott asked, having never seen the girl in his life. I didn't recognize her either. But I recognized the name.

"Cora?" Derek's voice sounded lost, shocked, small. I wanted to turn to him but I couldn't keep my eyes off of my brother.

"Derek," the girl, Cora, growled out, "Get out. Get out now!"

"Scott?" Stiles voice sounded again in his phone, "Hey, Scott!"

The large circular door of the vault suddenly opened, revealing Ms. Morrell standing in the circle. She bent down, clutching something in her hand. I looked down a noticed an unfinished line of mountain ash, as she was sprinkling said dust to close the circle around us, trapping us. "No! No!" Scott shouted.

But we were too late, the circle was closed and no werewolf could cross it, trapping us in here with moon deprived werewolves that included my big brother.

* * *

"Scott, are you hearing this?" Stiles shouted down his voice, "Scott!"

There was no answer as Stiles and Peter shared a grim look.

Isaac roughly shoved his body out of bed and grabbed his leather jacket, "I'm going there."

Stiles walked after him, "No! You can't!"

"To do what?" Peter asked at the same time, "You're next to useless in the shape you're in."

"So what?" Isaac turned, posing the question to both of them, "So I'm supposed to let my Alpha, my friend and, not to mention, my girlfriend – get killed?"

"There's nothing you can do to help them," Peter told him, "And they're more than capable of handling themselves. Even Jessie, we've all seen what she can do."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Isaac shouted, his eyes glowing amber in anger.

"You just have to trust them," Peter growled back, his eyes glowing bright blue.

* * *

Baako launched himself passed me toward Scott, throwing him like a rag doll against the wall. Before Baako could swipe at Scott, Derek snipped his claws in his back and tossed him away.

Cora came after me, smacking her claws into my cheek. I fell to the floor, lifting my hand to feel blood come back from the cuts in my skin. I turned back to see Cora about to swipe at me again, her teeth out and face fully transformed. But I was quick and kicked my feet into her stomach. She flew toward the open circle of the vault, but the mountain ash line acted as a wall as her body hit it and she fell onto the floor, tumbling in a few circles.

Derek, Scott and I pressed ourselves against the other wall. I was a little out of breath, "Is that who I think it is Derek?"

"You know her?" Scott asked incredulously.

"She's my sister, my younger sister," Derek answered quickly.

"What the Hell is she doing here?" Scott asked, voice loud in shock.

"Like I have a clue!" Derek shouted, "I thought she was dead!"

Suddenly none other than Allison skidded in the empty circle doorway, shouting, "Look out!"

Baako grabbed Scott and threw him into the opposite wall. I ran after him, grabbing his shoulder, "Baako, stop this! What's your anchor? Think of it, please!"

I heard Cora going for Derek, growling as she attacked her brother.

Baako's elbow connected with my stomach, sending me flying in front of Allison's feet. I saw Baako stab his claws into Scott's stomach, lifting up as Scott's whined in his throat at the pain.

I saw Allison bend down, intending to mess with the black dust on the floor.

"No!" Derek shouted, "Don't break the seal!"

Allison startled, backing up from the line, but still crouched on the floor. I saw her look at Scott, as he grimaced in pain, and I knew she was about to break the seal anyway. On instinct, my arm shot out to grab her arm, "Don't!" To my shock, my arm made through the supposed mountain ash wall, it much not effect me. And I felt the black dust shift and move under my arm, but the line didn't break. "Oh..." my voice whispered, a feeling building deep in me and I knew – I knew what to do.

"Allison!" the startled girl shot her eyes toward me, barely breaking them away from her ex-boyfriend being stabbed, "Back up! Don't break the seal no matter what—not yet. I have a plan and I need you to trust me right now, got it!?"

She didn't answer right away, her eyes wide and scared.

"Allison!" My voice roared, startling her enough to answer with a shaky, "Yes—got—got it."

I let go of her arm and stood up, "Derek, get away from her and stand at the door."

"Kind of busy here, Jess!" Derek shouted back at me, ducking from Cora's swiping arm.

I launched myself into her side, slamming her into the wall as she growled and wailed. "Just do it!"

I kicked Cora into the far corner and quickly ran to Scott's aid, grabbing Baako shoulders and ripping him away from Scott. Scott fell to the floor, spitting out blood. I felt Baako push himself out of my grip and grabbing my back, slamming me into the floor.

Derek ignored my demands and ran to get Baako off of me. He threw Baako in the opposite corner of Cora. "Get Scott over by the entrance now!" I shouted.

Derek reluctantly dragged Scott over to where Allison was standing. I followed after them, stepping over the line safely.

"You could get out this whole time!?" Derek shouted at me.

"Apparently!" I shouted back, frustrated and impatient and desperate for this to work like I thought it might, "Now when I break the seal, I need you to jump out quickly before they get out too!"

"What?" Derek yelled, "No, don't-"

Allison bent down and ran her hand through the dust without my say so. "Allison!" I shouted as Derek grunted and brought himself and Scott over the line. I looked up to see Cora and Baako running for us, and I swept my hand over the dust, an invisible force reattaching the line right before Baako and Cora could break through. The wall glowed bright blue when their bodies collided with it. And they were forced back.

I knew they'd just turn on each other now that they couldn't get to us. So I concentrated really hard before raising both of my hands in front of me, I drew a circle with my left hand, rotating my index finger counter-clockwise. And I quickly drew another circle with my right hand, rotating my finger clockwise. The dust moved with my fingers, forming separate circles around Baako and Cora, keeping them away from each other.

"What were you thinking?" Derek shouted at both me and Allison.

"That I had to do something," Allison hissed at him.

"And what did you think they were gonna do out there?" Derek posed for her, "Do you have any idea what you could have set free?"

"I knew what I was doing, Derek!" I argued with him, not knowing why I was helping Allison, but whatever, we both just wanted Scott to be safe right now. Scott was leaning heavily on the vault door and I held myself under his arm to keep him up, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he whispered raggedly, leaning heavily against me, his forehead resting on top of my head.

"You want to blame me?" Allison shouted incredulously at Derek, accusation in her expression, "Well, I am not the one turning teenagers into killers."

"No," Derek agreed roughly, "No, that's just the rest of your family."

Allison's expression went stony. She paused, putting a blank face on as she whispered, "I made mistakes. Gerard is not my fault."

I could disagree with her but I was more concerned with my best friend bleeding on my shoulder and my big brother suffering in the other room.

"And what about your mother?" Derek asked her.

"Derek!" I snapped at him. I may not like Allison. But her memory of her mother didn't need to be tarnished so soon after her death. She deserved to know the truth but not now and not like this.

"What do you mean?" Allison whispered dangerously low. I could see the emotion swimming in her eyes.

Derek looked at me and Scott, "Tell her."

Allison turned her eyes to Scott, "What does he mean, Scott?"

Scott gave her a desperate look. He, too, didn't want to ruin Allison's memory of her mother by telling her that Derek only bit her to stop her from killing him slowly and painfully.

"What does he mean?"


	5. The Truth Matters

Allison stared Scott down in disbelief, her eyes reflecting the swimming emotions deep within her, as she questioned everything she knew about her mother and herself. "She tried killing you."

Scott stared uncomfortably at the floor, "Uh, yeah, yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Allison whispered.

I had sat down with Scott so he could rest, using the sleeve of my jacket to wipe at the blood on his chin, pulling my hand away when he spoke, "I'll tell you everything okay? I'll tell you a-anything that you want to know-" he cast a look down the hall where Derek had walked out, "But right now-"

"Just tell me why," Allison interrupted him, sternly yet weakly at the same time.

Scott looked up at her, gaping mouth and he thought deeply about why he hid this from her, why we both hid it from her – why we all hid it from her. "I-I couldn't... Allison, I couldn't let that be the last memory that you had of her."

"She thought she was protecting you," I intervened quietly. Allison's eyes averted to my face. "She was driven by the extreme version of the code because she was led to believe in it. All she wanted to do was protect her daughter. That's why we didn't tell you. It wouldn't have changed anything. You still would have blamed Derek when you should have blamed Gerard and you still would've done what you did."

Allison faltered under my tone, not wanting to believe what either I or Scott were saying, "But maybe..."

"No, Allison," I cut her off, trying to be gentler. Yes, I didn't like her. But it didn't mean I had to drag her mother's name in the mud and break her heart. If she wanted to do better – she had to prove it. But I did need to give her the chance. "No maybe. The truth wouldn't have mattered because you still would have wanted to blame someone else."

We heard heavy footsteps then, and they echoed in my ears over the growling behind me and Scott's ragged breathing next to me. I turned to see Derek slowly walking toward us, a feminine body cradled in his arms like a child. A chill went through my body when I recognized the head of blonde hair nestled in his shoulder. I slowly stood up, "Is that...?"

Derek's forlorn gaze never left the floor as he nodded his head solemnly. I looked at his eyes, saw the swirling emotion just under the surface. I could see the welling of tears he would never let free. Anyone could look at his face and see the sense of failure he felt – and self-condemnation. He couldn't save her. Her Alpha – and he couldn't save her.

"Derek..." I whispered, his eyes flashing toward me as I interrupted the solemn silence overpowering the room, "This is not your fault."

I could tell not an inch of him believed me. "Yes."

I went to argue but he continued, "Yes it is."

* * *

Allison took off after that, Scott watching helplessly after her. He was all healed up by now and didn't need me to hold him up anymore. But he still needed my support. We'd always need to support each other. All of us.

Derek had laid Erica's body on an old desk left behind and sat there, just staring at her. I had let my fingers closed her eyes, not lingering on the paleness of her face or the darkness of her veins as if they had slipped poison into her body. She looked like she suffered. But at least her suffering was over. I could only imagine how Baako would feel when he was himself again.

It must have been twenty minutes that felt like forever later when I pulled my phone out to call Stiles.

"Jessie!" Stiles' panicked voice filled my ears after one single ring, "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Shh, Stiles," I said into the phone, "I'm fine. We're fine. I pulled some hocus pocus and trapped Cora and Baako in circles of mountain ash. They should be fine once the sun rises."

"Who's Cora?" Stiles asked in a perturbed tone.

"Umm... apparently Derek's younger sister who isn't really dead," I answered him.

"Well—this just got more complicated," Stiles stated dumbly.

I snorted, "Yeah, tell me about it. Is Isaac okay?"

"He tried to leave so he could go help you guys," Stiles told me, "But Peter and I talked him out of it, since he's not in the best of shape."

"Good," I breathed, knowing after hearing I was in trouble Isaac would want to rush to my aid even though it would mean him getting hurt worse.

"Do you want to talk to him?" Stiles offered.

"Please."

I hear shuffling and then Isaac's worried yet relieved voice, "Jessie?"

I smiled to myself upon hearing his voice, "Yeah, I'm okay. Everything's okay."

"You're not hurt?" He asked for clarification.

"I'm fine, I promise," I sighed, "But Erica..."

"She's really dead, isn't she?" he asked quietly, knowing it must be the truth. He'd seen it, he revealed it to us himself. But finding her was still devastating. Seeing her like this... we weren't invincible anymore.

My voice was a little shaky as I answered, "Yeah—yeah she is. I'm so sorry."

"This is not your fault," Isaac whispered to me, "This isn't our fault. This isn't our fault. Right?" He repeated the sentence a few more times. I think he was trying to convince himself more than me. He was the one who found them and he still wasn't there in time to save Erica from whatever they did to her.

"This isn't our fault," I reiterated to him, "But I can still be sorry. We can still be sorry that she's dead."

"What are you doing now?" Isaac changed the subject, "Are you coming home?"

"We'll head over soon," I assured him, "But someone is gonna have to come back and watch these two for the night. We'll figure it out later."

"Okay..." Isaac trailed off, "I was so worried."

"I know," I understood. If he was facing starved lions, I would be up to my ears in worry, "I know. But I'm okay. I don't know how... but I was able to move the mountain ash."

"What do you mean?"

I leaned back against the wall next to the vault door where I sat on the floor, knowing both Scott and Derek were listening as they were curious to as how I did what I did, "I don't know... one minute we're all fighting, trying to calm Baako and Cora down... and I'm on the floor by the dust, and I reach my hand out to stop Allison from breaking the seal—and it moved under my arm."

"What do you mean it moved?" Isaac asked, "Like the wind or something?"

"Like an invisible wind," I explained, "A wind that wasn't really there. I could move the ash without touching it. So when Allison did break the seal, I got Derek and Scott out of there and moved the ash around Baako and Cora to trap them. They can't go anywhere tonight."

"Then you should come back," Isaac determined, "Can you please come back?"

I smiled at his worry, "I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

After Issac hung up the phone, Stiles took his phone back and went to put it in his pocket when it rang again. Isaac didn't pay attention to who he was talking to or what they were talking about and then watched as Stiles gripped his car keys out of his backpack and left.

"Where do you think he went?" He asked Peter later.

Peter had gone back to reclining on the couch, "I. Don't. Care."

* * *

Stiles' jeep screech to a halt, crookedly parked in his haste as he stopped in front of a public pool near Beacon Hills Preserve. "Lydia?" He called out as he exited his car and rushed through the gate into the pool, "Lydia? – Lydia, are you okay?"

Lydia stood, facing away from the pool, her eyes glazed over and off-kilter as she stared at the floor, "I'm okay. That, over there," she waved her hand toward the lifeguard's high chair where a young man's dead body reclined lifelessly, "Not okay."

Stiles glanced up at the body, "Yeah, all right. I'm gonna call my dad," he started to get out his phone.

But Lydia said, "I already called 911."

Stiles stopped short, and stared at Lydia in shock, "You called the police before you called me?"

"I'm supposed to call you first when I find a dead body?" Lydia asked incredulously.

Stiles looked at her in disbelief, before suddenly yelling out, "YES!"

He muttered to himself, "I can't believe-" while taking a look at the body, when something caught his eye. He saw a silver band on the boy's finger, with upper case curved letters engraved in it spelling out, 'PURITY'.

Something else caught his eye in the distance. Stiles stayed still as he moved his eyes to peer around the lifeguard tower and he saw it more clearly, yet still not so clear. Someone was standing on the other side of the pool, outside the gate. They were just standing there, staring as if invested in what was happening—in the murder. Stiles couldn't see their face. But he could see they were short, maybe it was a woman.

"What are you looking at?" Lydia asked impatiently.

"There's someone over there," Stiles discreetly nodded toward the girl-figure.

"Where?" Lydia followed when she caught sight of whoever was watching them, "Who is that?"

The person noticed they'd seen her and swiftly turned to run away, disappearing into the night like a shadow. Actually—exactly like a shadow. Her body melted as a midnight dusty smoke lifted off of her until her body disappeared.

"Who was that?" Lydia almost squealed, her voice going high pitched.

"I don't know."

* * *

"You found a dead body at a pool?" I asked incredulously as Stiles gave me the run down of what happened.

His impatient voice answered me, "No—Lydia found the body and called me. His throat was ripped out. Blood everywhere."

"That's not possible," I said, "Baako and Cora are trapped at the bank. They couldn't have gotten out. It's mountain ash."

"Then something else did it," Stiles assumed.

"Like what?" I asked, following Derek and Scott up to Derek's loft.

"I don't know," Stiles sighed, "But that's not the weirdest thing. There was someone else there."

"Who?" I asked him.

"Well if I knew that it wouldn't be that weird, now would it?" Stiles sarcastically asked me.

I rolled my eyes, "Did you get a look at them?"

"Well, I think they were female," Stiles said slowly, "They were in dark clothes, far away. So I couldn't get a good look at what they looked like. Lydia was too obvious when looking and whoever it was ran away. And that's when it gets weirder."

"How weirder?" I asked him.

"They disappeared in a trail of melting smoke," Stiles' nearly deadpanned, "How's that for weird?"

"They disappeared in a cloud of smoke?" I repeated.

"No, not a cloud of smoke, a trail of smoke," Stiles corrected me haughtily, "Like her body became the smoke and then disappeared."

"That is weird," I agreed, "I'll have to look it up in the bestiary."

"Okay, let me know what you come up with," He said, "I just got to Lydia's. I'm gonna make sure she's okay and meet you later."

"Okay."

* * *

"You didn't have to follow me home," Lydia told Stiles as they walked into her bedroom.

"I just wanted to make sure you got in okay," Stiles said back.

Lydia slipped off her blue coat and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "I had a police escort."

"I know the inner workings of that force, all right?" Stiles explained, "They're not nearly as reliable as people think."

Lydia sat at the foot of her bed, "Well, you also didn't have to follow me into my room."

"Well, I uh," Stiles started, but came up short with any excuse, "Yeah, I don't have an answer for that." He paused, a wry smile on his face, and he jabbed his thumb toward the open door behind him, "I can leave."

Lydia's brow furrowed, "Are you really gonna go without asking me the question that you've been dying to ask me?"

Stiles gave her an innocent look, "I'm not—I haven't been dying to ask anything. I—no questions here—for Stiles."

Lydia rolled her eyes, scoffing, "I can see it on your face."

"Maybe my face just has, like, a naturally interrogatory exp-expression," Stiles defended himself.

Lydia pursed her lips, speaking back in short clipped tones, "Well, your interrogatory expression is getting on my nerves." Her eyes welled up as she thought of what had happened, the question in Stiles' face, "The answer is, I have no clue how I ended up finding that body. I didn't even know where I was until I got out of the car."

Stiles looked at her curiously, the wheels turning in his head, "But the last time something like this happened..."

"I know," Lydia whispered, "Derek's Uncle."

"Peter..." Stiles realized.

* * *

"Jessie," Isaac breathed out in relief, rushing to me and wrapping me in his arms once I was in reach, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too," I whispered into his shoulder, "How are you feeling?"

"Don't worry about me—I'm fine," He told me, leaning down to brush his lips against mine.

We heard Derek say to Peter, "Cora's alive."

Peter smiled apathetically, "I heard. Let's throw the reunion party when she's not an unstoppable killing machine."

"We stopped them," I said, walking up to them with Isaac hand in hand.

"But only barely," Peter answered, "And I think you guys are kind of missing the point."

"What point is that?" Derek asked his Uncle, anger evident in his voice.

"That if you hadn't been able to trap Baako and Cora in the vault and get yourselves out," He looked at me, "Then Derek would have had to kill them."

"What?" Derek hissed at Peter.

"Derek wouldn't have killed his sister and my brother," I argued, "And I wouldn't have let him if he wanted to."

"The point is," Peter went on impatiently, "That that was Deucalion's plan. He wants you," he looked at Derek, "to kill them. He wants you to get rid of your baggage, making it easier for you to join his pack."

"So..." I trailed off, realizing the implication, "All those Alphas that are already part of his pack..."

"They all killed their betas," Scott finished.

"Including their emissaries," I elaborated, "Except Ms. Morrell. She must be Deucalion's. She's working with the Alpha Pack."

"We'll keep an eye on her," Scott said.

* * *

"See this around his neck?" Melissa asked Stiles as she gestured to the deep red line around the pool boy's neck, "That's a ligature mark. That means that he was strangled with something, like cord, rope."

"So the person who did this could very well be human?" Stiles asked asked in disbelief.

"Maybe," Melissa admitted, "But then there's this." She used her glove clad hands to tilt the boys head to the side and show Stiles a deep head wound by his temple, "See the indentation?" Stiles nearly gagged but nodded. "He was hit in the back of the head, hard enough to kill him. In fact, any one of these things could have killed him. I mean, someone seriously wanted this poor kid dead."

"This can't be a coincidence though," Stiles murmured, almost to himself.

"Definitely not," Melissa agreed, "Because that girl," she gestured over to the body next to the boy's, covered up with a white sheet still, "she's got the exact same injuries."

The nurse walked over toward her with Stiles behind and lifted the sheet from the girl's face, revealing a very pale and very dead Heather. Stiles felt a lump rise in his throat as he recognized his childhood friend.

Melissa, however, didn't notice, simply looking down at the young girl, "The M.E. said this one wasn't just strangled. Whoever did it used a garrote, which is a stick that you put through the rope, and you just kind of keep twisting and – Stiles?" She looked at the boy and saw the expression on his face, realization dawning on hers, "Oh, my god, did you know her? I'm so sorry," she rushed to pull the sheet back over the girl's face, "I didn't even think."

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat, the tell-tale signs of moisture in his eyes, "I was—I was at her party. It was her birthday. Her name was Heather," he whispered.

"Okay, we need to call your father, 'cause you're a witness," Melissa responsibly stated. But Stiles wasn't paying attention. "Stiles?"

He turned to look at the young boy's neck, remembering how he found his body, noticing the silver purity ring on his finger.

"Stiles?" Heather stared up at the boy, gently pushing him through her houses' wine cellar under her house, "I just turned 17 today."

"Mmhmm," Stiles distractedly murmured back at her.

"And you know what I want for my birthday?" She asked as she kicked of her wedge heels, "To not be a 17-year old virgin."

All the clues were loosely clicking in his head as he tried to make sense of them, "Has anyone else been through here tonight? Any-any other bodies, or even anybody missing?"

"Uh, no, no bodies," Melissa confusedly answered the excited boy, "But, um—two girls. They brought the first one in, Caitlin, for a tox screen, and then I overheard that her girlfriend, Emily, just disappeared. I mean, they were out in the woods..."

"And no one's found her yet?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know," Melissa answered helplessly.

"Okay, first one," Stiles slowed down.

Melissa nodded, "Caitlin."

"Okay, is she here?" Stiles asked, "Is she here right now?"

"I think so," Melissa shrugged.

"Okay, where?" Stiles started getting impatient again, starting to leave, heading for the doors.

Melissa pressed a hand to his chest to stop him from rushing out, "Just wait a minute."

"I have to talk to her," Stiles insisted.

"Why?" Melissa asked, not getting it.

Stiles sighed, licking his lips, tension in his shoulders, "Because I think I know what's happening."

* * *

"We weren't doing anything that bad," Caitlin murmured, wringing her hands in her lap as she stared at them, "I mean, I've camped out there plenty of times."

Stiles was gentle as he questioned the girl lying in a hospital bed, "Right, but why tonight?"

"We wanted to be alone for one night," Caitlin wryly answered, "Emily lives with her mom, and I have three roommates. Not exactly romantic settings, you know?"

"How long have you two been together?" Stiles asked quietly.

The girl twisted her fingers together, just as quiet, "Three months."

"And you wanted to make it romantic," Stiles stated.

The girl was sheepish, "Yeah, you know..."

"Because it was her first time," Stiles guessed.

The girl was quiet, the truth in her face. She turned her head to look up at Stiles, a little lost, "They're gonna find her, right? Aren't they?"

* * *

Stiles called me and Scott down to the hospital and showed us what Melissa showed him. He didn't leave the sheet off of Heather's face for too long though.

"So explain this to me again," Scott said, scratching his head.

"This wasn't a werewolf?" Isaac asked, his hand in mine.

"I'm not exactly sure yet..." Stiles started.

"Stiles," I called out, making him look at me, "Whatever crazy theory you have—knowing what we've gone through in the past, it may be exactly right. So tell us."

He nodded shakily, "The other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? Eventually they're gonna find her. She's one of them... Emily, Heather, that guy Lydia found at the pool..." he explained, "All three were virgins. And they're all gonna have the same three injuries—strangled, throat slashed, head bashed in."

"That's..." I trailed off, knowing what it would mean.

"It's called the threefold death," Stiles said for me, looking down at heather's covered head.

"So if these aren't random killings," Scot started, "then what are they?"

Stiles expression grew solemn, "Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."

* * *

After a while, I dropped Isaac off at Derek's loft and made my way home. My dad was still at the hospital when I arrived so the house was dark. I didn't bother turning any lights on – I didn't need them. I just made my way up the stairs. I didn't blink as I passed my parents bedroom. Or Bethany's old room. Or Baako's. I just walked straight to mine and flipped a lamp light on for the sake of it. I pulled Wesley's journal out of my bag and flopped it onto my bed before going to change into sleepwear.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth. Texted my dad to check in. He was pulling an all-nighter so he would be asleep when I got up for school and I wouldn't see him until tomorrow night. He took a lot of extra shifts at the hospital since everything that happened last school year. I believe he was using work to distract himself from the fact that someone tried to kill his daughter, his daughter isn't human, his son had been missing for four months and his other daughter and wife left for their own safety. His whole family was torn apart in one night.

So I guess I understood. And I guess I blamed myself. Because it was my fault. They should have never been involved in all of this. I should have been better at keeping this secret from them. Baako, I couldn't help, he involved himself before he ever knew I was abnormal. But my dad, my mom, my sister... they could have stayed safe. And ignorant. Ignorance is bliss as they say.

But there's nothing I could do about it now. Mom and Bethany were safe away in Los Angeles – Bethany insisted that if they were going to move, they were going to move somewhere cool – and Baako was going to be fine.

I went to climb into my bed, ready to get some reading of my biological father's journal done. I opened the leather cover and saw a cursive note, written in feminine handwriting. It must have been written by whoever gave Wesley his journal.

_Happiness depends upon ourselves. A Sange never forgets the importance of history. Use this journal to tell your story for all of those willing to listen._

_~ Your Mother_

[Aristotle]

I reached to turn the page, ignoring my biological grandmother's note for now. But then something caught my eye. I saw a triangle sticking out of the middle of the book. I trapped the thin piece of paper in between my two first fingers and pulled. The triangle turned into a folded rectangle. I pulled it out and unfolded it, seeing messy handwriting sprawled across the page in thick black ink. I turned the front page of the book and saw the same handwriting. Thick, chicken scratch. It was obviously a boy's handwriting. And my breath caught in my throat when I saw my name at the top.

_Jessica,_

_I know you must have questions. You're mom seems to think that we should let you figure it out in your own time. If, God forbid, we're not there to help you through it every step of the way. But if it does happen that way, I don't want you to grow up never knowing who your real parents were or where you come from._

_I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm 17, way too young to be a father. Your mom's still 16. And as if becoming teen parents wasn't going to be difficult enough, all this supernatural shit had to hit the fan._

I had to chuckle through my eyes full of tears at his cursing. He sounded just as young as my mother did in her letter.

_We didn't mean for this to happen. For years, I didn't even believe the prophecy. But it's true and it's you. But not every prophecy is as literal as it sounds. Or as total. You control your own destiny Jess. Don't tell your mother I called you Jess. She says your name will be Jessica and you will be called Jessica. Your mother is so stubborn. But that's not the point. The point is that when you find both prophecies, you can't let them control you. You decide for yourself. That's why we're doing all we're doing for you._

_I know you must be confused but there's only so much information we can leave in one place. Talia said to scatter what we wanted you to find so there was less of a chance of it falling into the wrong hands. We trust that you'll figure it out if we can't be there for you._

_If it does turn out that something happens to me and your mom, I need you to know that it is not your fault. If you're anything like your mother, you'll be the type of person who takes everything unto yourself and feels responsible for anything bad that may happen. But I'm telling you you're wrong. We made our own choices. We made our own risks. But you are worth it. You're our child, how could you not be worth it?_

Some tears spilled over onto my cheeks. And this time, I had faces to match to 'mother' and 'father' whenever he mentioned it. They were Tanya and Wesley with faces and history and feelings now. They were concrete. They were real. Even though they're gone.

_But you need to know what to expect, being my daughter. You can find the details in my journal, which is why we plan to protect it more than anything. Peter even joked about burying it with my body. I don't think we'll go to that extreme. But I'm getting off topic. If you know about your mother's Grimm side, you can find the abilities that come from that side of the family in the back of her journal. But my side of the family is very different._

I didn't realize it at first but I was holding my breath. This was it. The answer to the question I'd been asking myself for months. And suddenly I was weary. I spent so much time desperately searching for the answer but now I wouldn't be able to ignore it if I didn't like it. What if I didn't like it? What if I was a monster?

I couldn't put it off anymore though. I had to know. Knowledge is power. And knowing is better than not knowing. I had to know. So I read on.

_No one was ever supposed to know this about my family. We're the last of our kind. And if something happens to me, you and my father will be the last. There's a whole history you need to understand. Me or my father can teach you. But for now, you only need to know what popular culture calls us._

_We are the last living line of the vampire race._


	6. Liberating

It was late that night. And almost on the dot, Derek stood across the street from Marissa's bakery. Ever since he was exposed to her for what he really was, and she said she couldn't handle it – he walked away. He left her alone, like he promised. But part of him couldn't let her go. He couldn't just let her fade from his life. And he couldn't leave her unprotected. So he came to watch out for her at the bakery whenever he could. He came at night, stayed away from the street lights, and watched until she got in her car and went home.

He watched as she smiled and chatted with one of the other girls that worked there as she wiped down the counter and the girl mopped the floor around the small tables pushed to the walls with the chairs turned over to rest on top of them. He watched as Marissa led the girl out of the store and stood just outside until she saw the girl get into her small car and drive off, waving at her as she passed. She was being careful and locked the door when she went back inside.

She moved behind the counter until she disappeared into the back room, briefly reappearing through the open bar-type window. He saw the lights in the back turn off and heard her footsteps as she walked back to the front counter, the only lights on being the ones in the front room.

"I know you're there, Derek," he suddenly heard her voice. He head snapped to attention. She still stood at the counter, ducking under it to pull out the trays of cookies and cupcakes and other treats to lay them on top of the counter. There weren't a lot left at the end of the day obviously. Her eyes were trained on her task and she didn't look up. But he heard her speak, "Might as well come in and explain yourself."

Knowing she probably wouldn't leave it alone, he heeded her suggestion and began to walk across the street. He kept his steps slow and measured, now regretting sticking around. He should have stuck to his promise and stayed away from her. He was obviously unwanted. He stopped walking when he reached the closed and locked door, making no movement to walk or say anything.

Marissa set the last tray down of the counter, on top a stack of the empty trays next to three trays that managed to hold onto some leftover treats. And then without making direct eye contact – but still looking at him and acknowledging his presence – she walked over to the door to pull it open for him, "Come in."

He side stepped into the shop and stood silent and stoic while she closed the door again. She pulled the blinds down on the windows and door as she spoke, "You've been here nearly every night I work – watching me. Why?"

"You noticed?" Derek asked, shock underlying his even tone.

"Of course I noticed my werewolf ex-boyfriend standing across the street and staring into the shop late at night," She sarcastically responded as she closed the last of the blinds and turned to look at him, arms crossed over her chest. "Now tell me why."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Derek admitted. "I know I said I'd leave you alone, but..." he trailed off, not finding any excuse for his behavior. He knew she deserved better than to be dragged into all his baggage that came with the life he led. But he couldn't let her go—not completely.

Marissa uncrossed her arms and walked until she was in front of him, sensing a difference in his carefully blank mask, "Did something happen, Derek?"

Derek almost flinched from the onslaught of memories that her question brought on. He tried desperately to keep his expression calm, but the guilt of failure, and the anticipation of the Alpha Pack loomed over him like a bloody shadow.

"There's this... pack of Alphas in Beacon Hills," He told her quietly. "They came for me. To join their pack."

"Because you're an Alpha," Marissa remembered out loud.

Derek nodded one nod, "But in order to join their pack... the Alpha has to... kill their original pack."

Marissa gasped quietly, her small hand coming to cover her mouth, "They want you to kill those kids? That boy Isaac, and-and Jessie's brother, and that girl-"

"Erica is already dead," Derek interrupted her, his expression crumbling upon saying it out loud.

"Oh my god," Marissa whispered. "I'm so sorry, Derek."

"She was my beta—my responsibility—and I failed her," Derek whispered, finally free to be vulnerable in front of this woman who allowed him to be. "She's dead because I couldn't find her in time to save her."

"Derek, it wasn't your fault," Marissa argued with him softly, taking a step closer to him. "Whatever they did or plan to do is not your fault. You can't blame yourself."

Derek briefly closed his eyes, "As their Alpha, I'm supposed to protect and care for my pack. And now Erica is dead. And they want me to kill the rest of them."

"But you won't," She shook her head at him. "You're stronger than that, Derek. You won't betray them like that."

"They may be dead already anyway," Derek muttered pessimistically.

"You can't think like that," Marissa whispered. "You can't give up."

"I just need you to be careful," Derek adopted a sudden urgent tone. "I don't know how much they know about me. I don't know if they know about you... or about our relationship..."

"We're not in a relationship anymore," Marissa whispered delicately, almost as if she was reminding herself in case she'd forgotten.

"But that doesn't mean that I stopped caring about you," Derek replied, trying to ignore the pain in his chest. "They could pick up on that if they don't already know."

"What do you want me to do, Derek?" Marissa asked him hypothetically. "Run? I'm not like that. I can't just run away anymore. My life is here."

"I wouldn't care as long as you were safe," Derek urged her. "I know you have family or friends out in San Francisco. I mean—you went to school there, you know the place, you can easily go live there."

"San Francisco isn't that far away for one thing," Marissa pointed out. "And for another—my life is here now."

"Your life is just to stay alive," Derek argued.

"Derek, this is pointless," She sighed exasperatedly. "You're not going to change my mind, and I'm not going to change yours. So let's just stop."

Derek looked down at the floor, struggle in his face and pain in his eyes, "How am I supposed to protect you... when I couldn't protect her?"

Marissa sagged, the last of her resolve slowly crumbling as she desperately tried to build it back up, "Derek-"

"No," Derek whispered, cutting her off, his eyes leaving the floor in favor for her eyes. "No—I should go. I should've stayed away like I said I would in the first place. Goodnight Marissa."

He ignored the calling of his name in her voice as he opened the door and headed straight for the woods.

* * *

"I looked everywhere," Scott told us as we walked toward the locker rooms. Issac was finally back in school, our hands intertwined. "Left his car, his dog."

"Okay," Stiles absorbed, "Was he, like could he have been a virgin maybe?" he asked nervously, starting to ramble, "Did he look like a virgin? Was he, you know, virginal?"

Scott smirked, "No, definitely not. Deaton makes me have sex with all of his clients. It's a new policy."

Isaac stifled a chuckle into my hair as Stiles gave us all an unimpressed look.

Scott sighed when Stiles didn't let up, "No, I don't know if he was a virgin. And why are you talking like he's already dead? He's just missing."

"Missing and presumed dead because he's probably a virgin, Scott," Stiles started to ramble again, getting worked up. "And you know who else is a virgin? Me. I'm a virgin, okay? And you know what that means?" he asked this as we turned a corner, standing in front of the doors that lead to the locker rooms. "It means that my lack of sexual experience is now literally a threat to my life. Okay, I need to have sex—like—right now. Jessie!" I looked at him wide-eyed when he said my name, "You know I love you like a sister—but I don't wanna die-"

Isaac growled, cutting him off and putting a possessive arm around my waist, pulling me closer into his side, "Not happening, Stilinski." I side glanced at him and saw his eyes glowing amber.

"Calm down, Isaac," I whispered. "It's just Stiles being Stiles."

He took a few deep breaths to calm down and then smiled when I kissed his cheek, "We need to go change and get ready for cross country. I'm going to run with Georgie though, so you guys are on your own today."

"Georgie?" Scott asked. "You know her?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I had her in one of my classes last year and she's in our English class. When did you meet her?"

"At the party..." Scott began, trailing off when he realized what he was saying and glancing at Stiles with concern.

"Guys," Stiles sighed. "It's fine."

"Let's just go be normal teenagers for an hour," I suggested, breaking off from the boys with a kiss on Isaac's cheek and going into the girl's locker room.

"Hey Georgie," I greeted my friend as we started changing in front of our lockers. Georgie had dark brown hair with a slight curl to it and pale skin, yet still tanner than me. She was nice and pretty short and petite and shy as well, but sweet.

"Hey Jessie," She smiled back at me. "Ready for the run?"

"Yeah," I answered her, lacing up my shoes on the bench as she stood waiting for me. "I'm sticking with you though. I don't have nearly enough girl friends and I need some time away from my boys."

"That's okay," She answered, though I noticed a slight dip in her voice.

I smirked as we walked outside, "You were hoping to join me and get close to Stiles, huh?"

She blushed and I knew I was right. She had a huge crush on Stiles since they were kids. She'd told me about it a while ago and I thought it would be a good idea for Stiles to give her a chance. Unfortunately, he was hopelessly into Lydia and didn't know she existed.

"I'm over him," she tried to dissuade me but I wasn't buying it.

"Suuure," I hummed as we lined up with the other kids. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Isaac flanked by twin boys and his eyes dangerously close to glowing. I made eye contact with Scott and he nodded at me. So I wasn't worried.

When Coach blew the whistle we all took off. Georgie and I laughed as we lazily raced against each other. I knew I could easily beat her but I wasn't that competitive and I didn't need to expose myself. We were running along the trail and I noticed Isaac, Scott and those twin boys weren't with the group. I heard Stiles running behind us and noticed Georgie try to run faster like she wanted to impress him.

We were coming up to an opening when I saw something that made me stop cold. Georgie stopped and screamed upon the sight of a boy's body strung up by some leather tie up against the tree. Stiles skidded to a stop behind us and without thinking, Georgie flung her body into his side. He tensed when she did but slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders and rubbed them comfortingly.

Scott and Isaac suddenly appeared. Stiles gave Scott a look, "It's him, isn't it?"

Scott gulped and nodded.

Next thing I know the police arrived, including Stiles' dad, "Get back! Get this area cordoned off before they trample—every piece of evidence."

His partner dutifully complied, shouting to the students, "Back up! Everyone back!"

"Get these kids out of here!" Sheriff Stilinski demanded as Stiles came up to him and pulled him closer to the body.

"Dad, just come here. Look, look," he pointed to the body, "look at it. It's the same as the others, you see?"

"Yeah, I see that," the Sheriff said, sighing, looking at his son. "Do me a favor. Go back to school, yeah?"

Stiles gave his father an incredulous look as the man turned to their Coach, "Coach, can you give us a hand here?"

"You heard the man!" Coach shouted to the cross country team and other way-ward students clogging the scene. "Nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless kid."

"Coach," Scott warned him.

"Yeah?"

"He was a senior," Scott told him in a deflated tone. And I knew he blamed himself for not looking harder to find him last night when he disappeared. I walked over to his side and took his hand in one of mine, squeezing it. He gave me a grateful smile.

"Oh gosh," Coach sighed, biting his thumb nail, "He wasn't on the team, was he?"

"Kyle!" A blond girl suddenly ran onto the scene, looking at the boy with a devastated and frantic expression, trying to get to his body, "Oh, God, Kyle!" but Sheriff Stilinski's deputy Tara grabbed her to stop her from touching the body as the girl cried hysterically, "Oh, god!"

The Sheriff goaded us to go on but Georgie stood there, staring at the body. Stiles and I stopped in front of her. "Georgie?"

She jumped, startled by us, "Oh—hey."

"Are you alright?" Stiles asked her.

She shook her head, "I just... need to get back to the school..." she murmured, brushing passed us to head toward the school with most of the other students.

Stiles and I joined back up with Isaac and Scott to walk back to school too, catching sight of the twins exchange incredulous looks at the sight of the body.

"You see the way the twins looked at him?" Isaac spoke in a low voice to us, sticking by close to me almost protectively.

"Yeah, you mean like they had no idea what happened?" Stiles sarcastically answered.

"No, no, they knew," Isaac determined, not listening to reason.

"The kid was strangled with a garrote, all right?" Stiles told us, exasperated. "Am I the only one recognizing the lack of 'werewolfitude' in these murders?"

"Oh, you think it's a coincidence they turn up and then people start dying?" Isaac shot back at him.

"That doesn't mean it's them," I piped in. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Scott?" Stiles asked his best friend, "How about you?"

Scott stared ahead, stopping in his tracks as he thought hard on what was happening, "I don't know yet."

"You don't know yet?" Stiles asked him incredulously.

Scott shrugged, looking between him and Isaac, "He had a point. Seriously, dude, human sacrifices?"

Stiles stared at him dubiously before launching into a rant, "Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glow sticks, okay? Jessie's turn into neon blue light bulbs and she can somehow move mountain ash without touching it. Hair literally grows from your cheeks and then will immediately disappear, and if I were to stab you right now, it would just magically heal, but you're telling me that you're having trouble grasping human sacrifices?"

Scott sighed through his nose, looking at Isaac, "That's a good point too."

Isaac stared at us unimpressed, "I don't care. They killed that kid, they killed the girl that saved me." He glanced back at the boy's body, "I'm gonna kill them too," he said, walking off.

"Isaac!" I called out to him, grabbing his hand. "You can't just kill them-"

"Why not?" he shot at me. "They're killing people left and right and you wanna let them live?"

"We don't know that they're the ones sacrificing people," I insisted.

He growled, "Even if they aren't—they still killed Erica."

I sighed, "Look—I know losing Erica is taking it's toll on everyone, okay? But we have to be smart about this. We can just go charging at them, half-cocked, and risk you getting hurt again!"

"I don't care," He growled at me. "I'm gonna kill them!"

* * *

Cora grunted as she pulled her body up with her arms on one of the pipes in Derek's loft.

"Stop," Derek told her, "You're not done healing."

Cora dropped to the ground, "Yeah? Well, I'm done lying around." She dropped on her hands to start doing push-ups, feeling Derek's eyes on her.

"Then sit," Derek suggested sternly.

"Are you gonna help me go after them?" Cora asked as she ignored his orders.

Derek walked up behind her and kicked on of her hands away, causing her to fall and roll over onto her back. She grimaced at him and thrust herself off the ground, running at him. She threw her arms up, trying to strike him. But he blocked every blow. She growled at him, "Come on, fight back!"

He threw her off him and she stared at him incredulously, "I came back for this?"

She scoffed and looked in Baako's direction but still spoke to Derek, "I can't believe I got my ass thrown in a vault for three months for you. All those rumors I heard. A powerful new Alpha, one of the Hales, was building a pack." She turned back to him, emotional, "Do you know how long I waited to hear something like that? Do you have any idea how it felt to find out you were alive?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," Derek muttered.

Before Cora could go and say anything else, the red light behind her flashed on and the alarm Derek set up in his loft started to chant in the living space. Cora heard the large metal door start to slide open and turned to it, "What's that?"

"Trouble," Derek replied as they saw the large bulky werewolf that tried to take Isaac from the hospital—Ennis.

He grinned maliciously at them, his eyes flashing red as his canines extended and he crouched, inviting a fight. Cora burned with anger at the sight of one of her captors and growled, beginning to run for him. Derek shouted at her, "No, wait. Wait!" But she ignored him.

They ran at each other but without much effort, Ennis threw a hand on her, lifted her up by her neck and slammed her back onto the ground. Holding her down, he grinned at Derek, "Ready for a rematch?"

A woman, stunning brown hair, tan skin and red eyes, stalked in on bare, clawed feet, growling at Derek. He started for her, dodging her kicking foot and leading her further into the loft space. She kept spinning and swiping at him with her feet until he caught one of her legs and threw her away from him. but she spun in the air like a martial arts expert and landed on her feet, throwing her hair back as she growled from deep within her throat.

Derek's eyes flashed deep blood red as he growled back at the intruder. She caught eye of a pipe and jumped up for it, tearing it from it's place and wielding it like a sword for Derek. She spun it in her hands a few times before smacking Derek in the face with it. It made his body spin, so she took the chance to swipe the pipe across the back of his head, making him tumble down onto the ground. Taking yet another opportunity, she twisted the pipe in her hands above her head before grasping it tightly and stabbing it into Derek's back, the pipe ribbing through his body, making him throw his head back and howl in pain.

Cora whimpered from her place on the floor at the sight of her big brother behind stabbed by the she-wolf.

Derek cried out as Ennis and the woman – Kali – grinned maliciously down at him.

They heard a tapping accompany footsteps as Deucalion, the blind man Scott and Jessie met at the hospital, felt his way inside the loft, "Everybody done? 'Cause just listening to that was exhausting."

He found his way to Derek, stopped walking, and swiftly folded up his walking stick, bending to Derek's level and smiling in a 'friendly' way, "So let's chat."

* * *

In Mr. Harris' class, I sat next to Isaac in front of Scott as the teacher went on, writing words on the chalk board as he taught condescendingly, "All right, since inertia is a subject of which you all know plenty, why don't we start with 'momentum'?"

Scott bent forward to talk to Isaac earnestly, "They're here for a reason. Give me a chance to figure it out before you do anything. Okay?"

But Isaac stared ahead, ignoring his words.

I took Isaac's hand in mine under the lab table, "Isaac—you can't go at them before we're ready."

Isaac's eyes flashed to mine, "This has nothing to do with you."

"Isaac," Scott scolded him, seeing my hurt expression.

"Danny," the teacher's voice interrupted us, making the boy in question look up, "What do we know about momentum?"

Of course, Danny being Danny would know the answer, "It's the product of mass... and velocity. The more massive something is, the faster it's going."

"Mr. Harris, can I use the bathroom, please?" Isaac's voice rushed out, already half standing up. When Mr. Harris permitted him to leave, he roughly ripped his hand from mine and left the room.

Scott stood up too, "I have to go to the bathroom too."

"One at a time," Mr. Harris shot him down.

"But I really have to go," Scott stammered, both of us eager for him to get out there after Isaac, "Like, medical emergency have to go."

"Mr. McCall," Mr. Harris began in monotonous drone, "if your bladder suddenly exploded and urine began to pour from every orifice, I would still respond, 'one at a time'. Is that enough hyperbole for you, or would you like me to come up with something more vivid?"

"No," Scott sighed, "No, that's pretty good," and he took back his seat, our eyes meeting in worry.

We sat in worry, not knowing what the Hell Isaac could be capable of. I was starting to wonder what he really was capable of, after all his talk of killing the twins without irrefutable proof that they're the ones killing people.

But then class was interrupted again by the sound of something banging into a locker out in the hallway and then some kind of thud, that sounded like something hitting the ground. Mr. Harris led the mob of people out of the room, Scott gently grabbing my elbow as we pushed to the front of the crowd to see Isaac standing over a bloodied Ethan. I could tell it was Ethan because Danny immediately went to his aid.

"What is this?" Mr. Harris demanded, "What's going on?"

"Are you all right?" Danny asked Ethan.

"Ugh," Ethan groaned, "He just—he just came at me."

Mr. Harris turned incredulous eyes on Isaac, "Isaac, what the hell did you do?"

* * *

"Sorry about this, Derek," Deucalion spoke enigmatically. "I asked Kali to be gentle, but-"

"This is me being gentle," Kali finished for him, twisting the pipe in Derek's midsection, making him breath sharply.

"Let-let her go," Derek stuttered in pain, referring to his sister still being held to the floor by her neck.

Deucalion nodded to Ennis and the Alpha swiftly lifted his hand from Cora's neck. She stood up on her feet and immediately started for Derek and Kali, but he side glanced at her, whispering and definitive, "No," making her falter in her steps and stop, her face twisting at the sight of her brother in deadly pain.

"See?" Deucalion spoke. "We're not unreasonable."

"What do you want?" Derek breathed harshly. "You want to kill me?"

"You really think I'm that boring?" Deucalion asked, faking hurt, before speaking almost angrily. "Don't throw me in with sociopaths like your Uncle." He composed himself and slowly slipped his glasses from his face, "I'm a man with far more vision than simple murder. In fact, I'm here to show you just how much vision a blind man can have."

* * *

Stiles waited impatiently outside the principal's office, knowing that Kyle's girlfriend was in there talking to Tara and his father. He heard the door open and saw Tara leading Ashley into the hallway, "Wait right here, okay?"

"Okay," the blonde girl whispered.

Stiles lept up to action once Tara went back inside, "Um, hi, Ashley," he gently took her elbow and led her away from the door, "Hi, can I talk to you just for one sec? Sorry."

"I just need to ask you something really quick," Stiles spoke quickly and softly, "And it's gonna sound really unbelievably insensitive, so I apologize in advance." Ashley gave him a confused look so he just came right out with it, "um... was Kyle a virgin?"

"What?" Ashley asked him, shocked at the question he was asking her.

"Your boyfriend, was he a virgin, or did you guys..." He tried to imply.

Ashley's face twisted in anger as she reached her hand up to slap him.

Tara and Sheriff Stilinski walked back out to see the slap. Tara took Ashley into her arms and began to lead her away. Ashley stopped walking enough to turn and answer Stiles, "No. He wasn't a virgin."

The Sheriff looked at his son, angry, "Have you completely lost your mind? I've got four murders, Stiles. You see those men in there?" he pointed to the suits still standing in the principal's office. "That's the FBI. They're pulling together a task force to help because it looks like we've got a full-blown serial killer on our hands. You get that?"

"Yes, dad," Stiles sighed, frustrated. "I get that."

"Then what are you doing?" He asked the boy.

Stiles looked down briefly, "I'm trying to find a pattern."

* * *

Derek grunted in pain as Kali held the pipe in his body. Cora watched on before it got to be too much as she yelled, "You're killing him!"

Kali held up her finger at the girl, "Not yet, little sister," she grinned, "But I could. Who know if it's five minutes," she twisted the pipe again, making Derek groan and breath harshly through clenched teeth as blood began to drip from his mouth, "or five hours before it's too late to take this thing out? But just to be on the safe side, Duke, you might want to get to the point."

"Now you see the one problem with being in an Alpha pack," Deucalion summed up. "Everybody wants to make the decisions. Me? I'm more about discovering new talents—Like you."

"Not interested," Derek stuttered painfully.

"But you haven't even heard my pitch," the Alpha Leader protested.

"You want me—to kill my own pack," Derek stammered, trying to sound stern and strong.

"No," Deucalion denied, correcting his assumption, "I want you to kill one of them. Do that, and I won't have to ask you to kill the others. You'll do it on your own. I did it. Ennis did. Kali did. Tell him what it's like, Kali, to kill one of your own."

"Mmm," Kali hummed, smiling at the memories, "Liberating."

* * *

After his dad left, Stiles caught sight of that girl—Georgie—standing at her locker stoically. He glanced around the nearly empty hallway before walking up to her, "Hey—Georgie."

The girl snapped to attention and nearly slammed her locker door shut, "Stiles. Hi."

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked her gently.

Georgie eyes fell to the floor, uncomfortable, before flitting up to look into her crush's eyes, "I found a dead body strung up to a tree by a dog leash today, Stiles. Do you think you'd be okay after something like that?"

Stiles sighed internally, wanting to help her after all he's seen—he should be able to, "Georgie-"

"I like your hair like that," She interrupted him swiftly. "It's looks better than the buzz cut you had last year." She paused, fingering the lock on her locker before standing up straight and shouldering her backpack, "See you later." Then she turned on her heal and walked off.

* * *

"Listen to me, Derek," Deucalion leaned on his now-unfolded cane, "Do you really want to stay beholden to a couple of maladjusted teenagers bound to become a liability? And believe me, they will become a liability." He paused, grinning and tilting his head to the side, "In fact, I have a feeling one of them is getting himself into trouble right now."

* * *

Meanwhile, in lunchtime detention, Mr. Harris assigned partners and tasks, "The two of you will wash all the boards in this hall—Re-shelving the library-" and then he reached Isaac and who else who be paired up with him than Allison, "Restocking the janitor's closet."

Isaac looked behind him and saw Allison, both of them wide-eyed at the sight of each other. Isaac stood up and tried to discreetly talk to Mr. Harris, "Oh, Mr. Harris? Um does it have to be with her?"

"No that I know you prefer not to—Yes," The teacher grinned, "You have to be with her."

Isaac glared over at Allison, whispering to himself, "Great."

* * *

Allison led Isaac into the janitor's closet, the two awkwardly bumping into each other. Isaac sighed through his nose, fidgeting as he worked, not liking the cramped situation.

"Are you okay?" Allison asked, sensing his discomfort.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just—Not a fan of small spaces," Isaac answered her. "But don't pretend you care. We're not exactly friends—especially since you stabbed me. Twenty times. With knives."

Allison kept stocking supplies onto the shelves before speaking, "They were actually Chinese ring daggers, but—sorry."

Isaac was unimpressed, "Was that—was that an apology?"

"Would you accept an apology?" Allison asked him, a little hopeful.

"My forgiveness really isn't the one that matters," Isaac stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "And it's not the one you want anyway—it's Jessie's."

Allison faltered at the truth of his statement. She did want Jessie's forgiveness. She wanted Jessie's friendship back. But that seemed impossible.

The door to the closet suddenly slammed behind them, plunging them into red darkness. Isaac's breath caught in his throat as he rushed to the door, jiggling the doorknob, "No, no, no, no."

"Uh, maybe it locked from the outside," Allison suggested.

Isaac pushed against the door, "No, there's something... against it." He pushed again, breathing sharply through his nose, yanking off his gray sweater and pacing nervously in the small cramped space.

"Okay, okay," Allison chimed, "Okay, uh, all right. Just relax."

"No," Isaac whispered to himself.

"Isaac, relax," Allison tried again.

Isaac huffed with his nose, leaning against the door by his hands, banging against it, "Come on. Come on." He banged his hands against it again.

"Isaac."

"Come on," Isaac hissed under his breath, banging his hands loudly against the door frame.

"Isaac, just relax," Allison tried to calm him down.

Isaac pounded his fist against the door, his mind flashing back to the countless times his father locked him in that small, metal refrigerator in the basement. So cramped. So cold. All he wanted to do was get out. He just wanted his dad to let him out. He would bang against the lid, scratch and claw at it with his then-human finger nails. All fruitless efforts. Isaac started getting frantic and desperate, punching the wall, trying to push the flash backs away.

The fear—the rage—coiled up inside him until he felt nothing but. And his supernatural side began to take over. His eyes flashed their werewolf amber color, his head whipping toward Allison behind him.

Allison stared wide-eyed at Isaac, now scared of him, but desperate to still calm him down, "Isaac. No! Don't. Don't."

But he didn't listen, growling at her and advancing on her as she yelled, "Isaac!"

He grabbed her arms, his claws digging into her skin and she tried to wiggle away, screaming, "Isaac! Isaac! Isaac!"

"Isaac!" Another feminine voice yelled.

The next second the door burst open and Scott came in with Jessie behind him. Scott grabbed Isaac's collar and threw him outside the closet by Jessie's feet. He knelt by him, grabbing his neck as Isaac snarled and growled. Scott's eyes flashed yellow and he screamed, "ISAAC!" in a deep, supernaturally powered voice that emanated strength and leadership. Isaac flinched, his eyes going back to their natural color as he pushed himself against the wall, trying to make his body as small as possible.

Jessie crouched next to him, brushing her hands through his hair, "Isaac—it's okay. Come on, baby, it's okay, look at me."

He whispered under his breath, closing his eyes.

"Isaac, look at me," Jessie pleaded until he opened his eyes to look at her. "It's okay. It's okay." She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his lips.

Scott looked at Allison's arm, seeing scratch marks from Isaac's freak out, "I'm okay. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry," Isaac breathed, looking like a lost little boy, like the abused boy he used to be, "I didn't—I didn't meant to do that."

"I'm okay," Allison told him.

"We know you didn't mean it, Isaac," Jessie whispered to him.

"I'm so sorry," Isaac said, almost to himself.

"It's not his fault," Allison told Scott, who started to look angrier and angrier as he looked between Isaac and Allison.

"I know," Scott assured them. "I guess now we know they want to do more than get you angry," he told Isaac, "They want to get someone hurt."

Isaac quickly composed himself, choosing to focus on the twins, "So are we gonna do something?"

"Yeah," Scott answered, "I'm gonna get them angry. Really angry."

"How?" Jessie asked him.


	7. Dark Oak

"You know that there's a temple in Calcutta where they used to sacrifice a child every day?" Stiles rhetorically asked Lydia, following her down the hall, speaking in his usual spastic way. "That's every day a dead baby, Lydia, every day! Hey, you want to know what today is? It's dead baby day. Oh, no, wait, that's every day, because every day is dead baby day, yay!"

"Why are you telling me this?" Lydia asks him as they turn into a hallway outdoors, not knowing the girl behind them could hear what they were talking about.

"Because Scott and Jessie are busy dealing with the Alpha Twins," Stiles whined.

Lydia stopped in her tracks at what he said, looking at him in confusion. He gave her a dubious look, "You don't know about the twins?"

"Alphas?"

"Ethan and Aiden," Stiles filled in the blanks for her.

Obviously, Lydia didn't know what he was talking about. But she played along anyway, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I knew about them."

They began walking again as Stiles ventured into another rant, "So look, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that the murders maybe come in threes. Ancient people love things in threes, right? So maybe first it's three virgins, and then, I don't know, maybe it's three people who own little dogs."

"I own a little dog," Lydia pointed out in a deadpan voice.

Stiles gave her a scrunched up face but before he could say anything Lydia held up her finger, "I am not getting rid of my dog," and began to walk away again.

"Would you just think about getting rid of your little dog?" Stiles trailed after her.

"No," Lydia chimed, going into one of her brilliant rants of her own. "And by the way, you cannot discern a pattern by a single data point—so stop trying."

"Wha-okay, so what," Stiles began sarcastically and frantically, "I'm just supposed to wait around for someone else to die then? I'm just supposed to sit there and watch them die? Just wait for them to wither up and die right in front of me?"

Lydia paused, looking at him with a raised eyebrow as they stopped walking and stood there, "Wither?"

Stiles scoffed, "You know what I mean. Die, in just a hideously awful, strangulating, head-bashing, throat-cutting kind of way."

Lydia stood there, her head tilting as she struggled with what she wanted to say, hesitating, "Maybe it's not your job." At Stiles' incredulous look, she explained, "You said it yourself, they were strangled with a garrote. That's a human thing to do—so maybe just leave the... figuring it out part to someone human."

"You mean someone like my dad?" Stiles asked her, already hating the prospect of leaving his dad alone against someone capable of these murders.

"No," Lydia answered him, "I mean your dad." With that, she started to walk off to her locker, calling out behind her shoulder, "The Sheriff!"

Stiles stood behind her, hands on his hips, not realizing the girl who had been following them and listening to everything they were saying, was still behind him, slipping off down another hallway unseen.

Georgie.

* * *

Scott and I walked into our English class together, knowing Allison and Isaac were with the bike in the parking lot. Scott heard his phone ring and grinned, showing me the picture of my boyfriend straddling one of the twins' motorcycles like some biker guy. We both took our seats as Miss Blake spoke, "Okay, everyone. I know this is the last class of the day. To be honest, I want to get out of here too."

Scott took a seat next to the twins and I took the seat in front of him. Scott smiled happily to the twins ignoring their confused looks before reaching into his backpack and pulling out a rim of some sort, spinning it on his finger, "Looks kind of important."

I could tell they knew the part was from one of their bikes as Scott pulled out another part, "I have no idea what that thing does."

"But it looks pretty important too," I chimed in.

All the supernatural people in the room could hear the sound of an engine turn on and Aiden flexed with anger, shooting out of his seat. His brother called after him, "Wait. Aiden, don't!"

But his brother ignored him and ran out of the room, the teacher and most of the other students staring perplexed after him. Scott and I stood out of our seats with most of the others who had started to hear something that sounded like an engine rev in the hallway. We stepped out to see Isaac swiftly join the crowd of students, grinning at me and taking my hand in his with a proud smirk toward Aiden who stood on his bike. Scott and I fist bumped in pride as Miss Blake came out and stared wide-eyed at the sight of Aiden on his motorcycle in the school hallway, "You have got to be kidding me. You realize this is gonna result in a suspension."

* * *

Stiles let himself into the vets office, expecting to confront Deaton alone. But when he walked in, the veterinarian was standing right behind the mountain ash gate speaking with a young woman with dark brown—almost black—hair and light eyes, dressed in business casual attire. The two were speaking seriously but immediately grew quiet when they heard him enter.

Deaton smiled friendlily, "You're out of school early."

"Yeah," Stiles stuttered, "Free period actually."

Deaton gestured to the woman he was with, "This is Sonia, a friend of mine."

"We already know each other actually, Stiles," the woman smiled. "I'm Georgie's big sister. I haven't seen you since you were in Elementary school, you're almost unrecognizable."

"Yeah, yeah," Stiles murmured in vague recognition, "It's been a while. I actually came to talk to Deaton about something—alone."

Deaton and Sonia exchanged a look before Deaton looked apologetically at Stiles, "Why don't you come back after school actually lets out, Stiles?"

* * *

Blood dripped down the pipe still nailing Derek to the ground, coating it in thick, slopping dark red as Deucalion stood over him, folding his cane section by section, "See, the reason I'm always invested in new talent is simple. We all know a pack is strongest due to it's individual parts. The stronger the individual parts, the greater the whole. When I lost my sight, one of my betas assumed I wasn't fit for my role anymore. He tried to take it from me. Killing him taught me something about Alphas I didn't know they could do. His power was added to mine. I became stronger—faster—more powerful than I'd ever been. I tested this new ability to subsume the power of your own by killing another one. In fact, Derek," he grinned, "I killed them all. I took the individual parts and became a great individual whole."

He bent down and gripped the back of Derek's hair, pulled his face him to look at him. Derek hissed at the painful contact as Deucalion felt his hand across Derek's face, "You're right, Kali. He looks like his mother."

Deucalion smiled and stood up, walking over to the table Derek had in his loft, "You'll get to know me, Derek. Like she did."

* * *

"Lydia, what's wrong?" Emily asked as she found the girl staring down at the piano in the music room with horror on her face. She'd been wondering down the hall after school let out because Alex was running late, and saw the strawberry girl all alone.

"He's gonna be one of them," she whispered, "He's been taken too."

"Who?" Emily asked her, following the girl's eyes to the music teacher's phone on the piano, sitting next to a bloody hand print of the piano cover, "Okay—Lydia? Call Stiles. I'll call somebody else."

* * *

"Why are you guys here?" Stiles asked as he let himself into the music room to see Lydia and Emily in the company of Deaton and Alex.

"I called them," Emily explained.

"Can we get a copy of this?" Deaton asked Lydia as she showed him the recording of chanting she'd found.

"So you think this is it?" Alex asked the vet, "A Druid?"

"You know what's happening?" Stiles asked, "Why haven't you been telling us? Both of you?" He looked between Alex and Deaton accusingly.

"Maybe because when you spent every moment of the last ten years trying to push something away," Deaton began, "Denying it. Lying about it. Becomes a pretty powerful habit."

"Okay..." Stiles sighed, "so is this guy a druid?"

"No," Alex shook his head, "Druid, in Gaelic it means 'wise oak.' The Celtic Druids weren't serial killers. They were all about nature, balance."

"They were philosophers and scholars," Deaton defended.

"Well this one is a killer," Stiles supplied, looking around the music room for any clues. He paused suddenly though, his head perking up in thought.

"Stiles?" Deaton asked him.

"What if it's not a guy?" Stiles asked them. "What if it's that woman?"

"What woman?" Emily asked him.

"The one we saw at the pool," Lydia guessed.

"Yeah," Stiles confirmed, "She was at the pool where we found the first body. Just standing there and watching. It was dark and she was far away so all I could tell was that she was a woman."

"So what?" Alex said, "Maybe she just happened to be there."

"Few things are simple coincidences," Deaton chimed in wisely.

"And there's more," Stiles briefly glared at Alex's skepticism, "When she noticed us looking at her, she turned and ran off and her body literally disappeared in a steaming trail of black smoke. Tell me that's just a coincidence. Maybe she's the one doing this."

"Druids don't disappear in smoke," Alex shot back at him, none of them noticing the dark look passing over Deaton's features.

"Let's just focus on finding out who the next victim is," Emily dissuaded them. "We need to figure out the connection."

"Every group of three would have its own purpose, its own type of power," Deaton explained.

"What are the groups?" Emily asked.

"Virgins, healers, philosophers, warriors-"

Deaton was cut off by Stiles who was looking through the teacher's desk, "Wait, wait, wait—warrior. Could that also be like, a soldier?"

"Absolutely," Deaton told him, nodding.

Stiles held up a wedding picture of the teacher standing in his military uniform with his wife, happy as could be. He slammed the picture down, "Kyle was in R.O.T.C."

"With Boyd," Emily said out loud, remembering her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend.

"That's the connection," Alex realized.

Lydia paused, a look of realization on her face as well as something occurred to her.

"Lydia, what is it?" Emily asked her.

"I just..." Lydia began, trailing off before sighing, "I just thought of someone else with a military connection."

"Who?" Stiles asked.

"Wait," Alex caught on, "That chem teacher had the west point honor code on his desk. Dad had the same one from when he served."

"Mr. Harris," Stiles figured it out.

* * *

Isaac, Scott and Jessie were walking down the stairs on their way out of the school. Jessie shouldered her bag, "Guys, I have to tell you something..."

"What is it?" Scott asked her, sensing the seriousness in her tone.

But before she could answer, they came face to face with Ethan and Aiden, standing in the hallway side by side with glared on their faces.

The three of them dropped their bags on the floor in readiness as the twins growled and ripped off their shirts. Ethan kneeled on the ground in a crouch and Aiden thrust his hand in his back, their bodies fusing together with a blue energy deep in their being until they morphed into one Mega-Alpha.

Isaac rolled up his sleeves, "We can take them."

"Are you kidding?" Scott stared at them wide-eyed, grabbing Jessie's sleeve and pulling her back with him, calling out, "Isaac!"

Isaac turned and began running with them. The mega-alpha roared and chased after them, much too fast for them. On instinct, Jessie turned around, fear coursing through her veins as she saw its hands/claws rear up to strike. She threw her hands up in front of her like a shield and power replaced the fear in her blood. The Mega-Alpha flew backward, thrown by some unseen force. A dozen lockers down the hall, they landed with a rough thud on their back, instantly splitting back up into their original bodies.

The twins looked up at her with horror written on their faces and she could have sworn she heard Ethan whisper, "It's her..."

But before anything else could be said or done, the twins got to their feet and stormed out of the school.

"What the hell was that?" Isaac asked from behind Jessie.

Jessie slowly lowered her hands, still wide-eyed at what she'd down. That felt so much more powerful than what she did at the bank. And she wondered just how much she could do—what she was capable of. "...I don't know... maybe just a vampire ability..."

"What?" Scott and Isaac asked in her unison.

Jessie turned to look at them sheepishly, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Alex found a bunch of files in his dad's office. He's been doing a bunch of research on me and my genealogy."

"And he knows what you are?" Scott asked, "A vampire?"

"No—well, yes," Jessie answered, "Matthias knew—wrote down that it was worse than he imagined. But there was nothing about vampires in his notes, just a long tracing of my birth parents lines. But Alex found out that they buried my father's journal with his body so we went to the cemetery and... retrieved it."

"From his body?" Scott asked, "That must have been awful."

"You were with Alex?" Isaac asked, instead focusing on that tiny detail.

"Isaac," Jessie sighed, rolling her eyes, "He's just trying to help."

Sensing a whole other kind of conversation coming on, Scott redirected it back to the original topic, "So you found your father's journal and it says you're a vampire. But I thought you said vampires went extinct in the 1940s."

"According to my father's letter," Jessie started explaining, bending down to grab the letter from her bag on the floor, "Him and his father were the last ones," she handed the letter to Scott. He unfolded it and skimmed it with his eyes, Isaac peering at it over his shoulder. "So unless Wesley's father is still alive somewhere... I'm the last vampire left."

* * *

"This is just one of many possibilities," Deaton said out loud as the teens searched Mr. Harris' classroom, peering at the west point code plaque the chem teacher had on his desk. "He could have simply left for the day."

"Yeah, well, not without this," Stiles answered him, holding up the teacher's brief case.

Emily held up a test paper Mr. Harris had been grading with furrowed eyebrows.

"What?" Deaton asked her.

She turned the paper toward them, revealing the dark red 'R' written on the paper's corner, "This test is graded 'R'."

Lydia held up another paper, "This one's an 'H'."

Deaton walked over behind the desk and took the papers from their hands, looking through the other papers and moving them around until they formed a word.

"Oh no..." Alex breathed, reading the word from the other side of the desk.

"What?" Emily asked her brother.

"Remember that 'druid' is the Gaelic work for 'wise oak'?" Deaton asked rhetorically.

"Yeah," Stiles answered anyway.

"If a druid went down the wrong path, the wise oak was sometimes said to have become a dark oak," Deaton explained, "There's a Gaelic word for that as well."

All the teens peered down at the words spelled out in Mr. Harris' handwriting on the desk.

"Darach."

* * *

Rain pattered against the window of Derek's loft.

Cora stood around the corner, pressing herself into the brick wall as Isaac stammered to Derek's back, "Ah, I don't get it."

Derek stood staring out the window at the dark wet night, a glass of water in his hands.

"Look, did something happen?" Isaac asked.

Derek inwardly struggled, "It's just not gonna work with both of you here. I've got Cora now. It's too much. I need you out tonight."

Isaac scoffed, it sounding like a laugh, incredulously, "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Somewhere else," Derek answered shortly.

Isaac licked his lips, struggling with the swelling sense of rejection he was feeling, "Did I do something wrong, Derek?"

Derek clenched his jaw, trying to compose himself. He hated himself for what he was doing. But he knew he had to do it. It was for his own good. He turned to look at Isaac, a hard expression on his face, "You're doing something wrong right now by not leaving."

"Oh, come on," Isaac said, trying not to take it too seriously.

"Just get out," Derek demanded.

"Derek, please," Isaac deflated.

"Get out!" Derek shouted, throwing the glass cup in his hand at the pillar next to Isaac's head, making the boy flinch, covering his head with his hands and staring in shock at the pillar where the glass shattered.

He stared at Derek, betrayal evident in his eyes. Derek hid the regret in his as Isaac grabbed the duffel bag he packed and stormed out of the loft.

* * *

Scott sat at his desk doing his homework to the background noise of rain when he heard a knock at his bedroom door. "Come in, mom."

The door creaked open and he turned to see a soaked Isaac standing in his room with a duffel bag in his hand, "I... I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

* * *

"You should go home, dear," the sweet old Beacon Hills librarian cooed to Alex bent over records spread out on the same desk he'd been commandeering for weeks.

Alex looked up at her, startled, "Oh. Yeah—yeah, I should."

"You're school work shouldn't interfere with your sleep, dear," She smiled maternally at him. That was good. No one else treated him like a mother would. He didn't have a mother anymore.

"Oh, um, no," Alex sighed, "It's not schoolwork. Just something for a friend of mine."

"Must be a close friendship," she commented, "But still not worth your health. Go home and get some sleep, darling."

* * *

"Not that you're not welcome..." Scott began hesitantly, looking at Isaac sitting on his bed, dressed in some of his borrowed pajamas, "But why did you come here? Why not go to Jessie?"

Isaac leaned his elbows on his knees, wringing his hand together, "I can't tell her that Derek kicked me out. You can't either."

"What?" Scott asked him, not expecting that kind of answer, "Why?"

"You know how close they are, Scott," Isaac explained. "And after everything that happened with Emily, Alex and Allison—Jessie needs people she can trust. If she knows Derek kicked me out, she'll start to doubt him and it'll hurt her."

"So you're just going to pretend you still live with Derek while staying here?" Scott asked rhetorically.

But Isaac nodded, "Yeah, that's the plan."

"What if she finds out?" Scott asked him.

Isaac shrugged, "Then at least I tried to protect her."

* * *

"So I heard about what happened at school," Sonia mentioned as Georgie washed her dish in the sink.

"Oh."

"Are you okay, George?" Sonia asked her little sister worriedly.

"I don't know," Georgie sighed, "All the weird stuff that's happened in this town the past year just keeps coming. And now I've seen it first hand." She put her plate down in the sink and leaned her elbows down, "Jessie and I—we found his body, Son."

Sonia frowned, "That's something you never should have been exposed to. And I'm sorry. But I know you're strong enough to power through-"

"I don't need to power through!" Georgie interrupted her. "I need people to stop dying! Everyone dies. Heather, Kyle, Mom and Dad. Bodies are dropping like flies like Beacon Hills is cursed or something and there's nothing I can do about it. I mean, what could I do—Could I do anything?"

"No," Sonia shushed her, taking her shoulders in her hands, "There's nothing you could have done for any of them. Mom and dad died in an accident. Heather and Kyle... they were targeted by someone really sick. And there's nothing you could have done differently to prevented it. And there's nothing you need to do now but to be safe. The police and the FBI are here and taking care of it. I just need you to be careful out there."

Georgie sighed, letting her sister pull her into a hug, "I will. I promise."

Mid-hug, there was a knock on the door. The sisters broke apart and Georgie ran a hand down her face, "It's too late for visitors."

"I'm sure it's no one special," Sonia muttered. "Why don't you clean up for bed and we'll watch an episode of Merlin or something before you go to bed?"

Georgie smiled weakly, "Okay," before stepping onto the stairs that started in the kitchen and led to the second floor.

Sonia sighed under her breath while she went to answer the door, not surprised to see Deaton standing on her porch in the rain. "Alan."

"Sonia," Deaton greeted, "There's something you need to know."

Sonia crossed her arms in front of her, "Let's hear it."

"There's another witch in town," Deaton revealed. That definitely took Sonia for surprise. "You need to tread carefully now. I know the rules—you know the laws. But you need to be aware of what's happening in town."

"Did you find anything else out about what we're dealing with?" Sonia asked earnestly.

"It's a Darach."

* * *

Jessie sighed, reading through Wesley's journal, making notes of any abilities he mentioned. So far he's mentioned using his speed, strength and dealing with arithomomania. All things she already knew and experienced. However, there was something... kismet and... warm about having this connection to her birth father—about knowing they went through the same things. Even if it's something as annoying or trivial as arithomomania. She counted things. He counted things. He talked about counting how many lockers he passed until he got to Tanya's to slip a note inside to ask her to be his girlfriend. She still counted desk supplies at the vet's office.

After a few hours, nearing one am, Jessie decided that she should call it a night. She slipped the journal and her budding list of abilities on her night stand and reached up to turn off her bedside lamp, plunging her room into darkness, the only light coming from lightning striking against her window with the rain as a soundtrack. She laid down and tried to calm herself down enough to fall asleep.

_The rain was deafening enough without the boom of thunder overhead in the middle of the muddy woods. A shiver ripped through her being, though her body wasn't physically there. She saw a body—a man—being tied to a tree, unable to break free._

_"Please!" The man pleaded. And she realized who it was. Mr. Harris. He seemed blinded by the rain and desperate as he pleaded, "Don't do this! I did what you asked. I did everything."_

_She could only speculate as to what 'everything' was and who had 'asked'. But she really had no clue._

_"They—they'll figure it out!" Mr. Harris warned suddenly, "And they're gonna find you."_

_A thick black cord wrapped around his neck somewhat loosely. Mr. Harris gulped, yelling out, "You still need me!"_

_But whoever was holding the chord, didn't think they needed him anymore as they yanked of the chord, effectively ending Mr. Harris' life._

Jessie gasped loudly, shooting up in bed, "Oh my god..."


	8. Incongruous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second Trailer here;  
> https://vimeo.com/159998995

The cross country team sat in one of those uniform ugly yellow buses, taking on the highway on their way to a meet. Jessie sat with Isaac in their own seat, Jessie leaning on Isaac's shoulder. Isaac cast an arm around her shoulder, "Stop thinking about it."

"I can't," Jessie whispered, "It just replays over and over in my head. I don't know if I can handle this, Isaac..."

"Shhh," Isaac whispered to her when he saw her eyes start to tear up, "It's going to be okay. We'll get through this you know that. We've gone through-"

"Don't say we've gone through worse," Jessie interrupted him. "Right now—I can't think of anything that's happened that's worse. Isaac—Derek's dead."

"I know," Isaac muttered to her, trying not to acknowledge it, "Okay? I know. He was my Alpha, Jessie, you think I'm not feeling this too?"

"Are you?" Jessie asked him. "You seem pretty calm to me."

"How can you ask that?" Isaac hissed at her. "You are not the only one who misses him. You are not the only one that lost him."

Jessie stared at him, shocked at his words, "Then why do I feel so alone right now?"

Isaac stared back at her, not knowing how to answer her. She sighed, "I'm just going to go sit with the guys." Before Isaac could protest, she stood up from her seat and took the one in front of Scott and Stiles just as Stiles said, "Anachronism."

"Something that exists out of it's normal time," Scott answered tiredly.

"Good job," Jessie commented, trying to discreetly wipe under her eyes.

"You okay?" Stiles asked her.

She nodded, "Give him the next word."

Stiles swiped at his touch pad, "Incongruous."

Scott leaned against his window, sluggish, "Um, can you use it in a sentence?"

"Yes, I can," Stiles asked, launching into a sarcastic tone. "It's completely incongruous that we're sitting on a bus right now, on our way to some stupid cross-country meet after what just happened—incongruous."

"Out of place," Scott played along, "Ridiculous. Absurd."

"What are we supposed to do, Stiles?" Jessie asked him quietly. "Sit in our houses, apart from each other? I'd rather be with you guys than alone in my room."

"Jessie..." Stiles sighed, "I didn't mean-"

"Whatever," Jessie dismissed him. "Next word."

"Um... Darach," Scott and Jessie gave him a 'look' to which he answered with a sheepish grimace, "Darach. It's a noun." Scott tried to ignore him but Stiles persisted, sighing, "We have to talk about it sometime, okay? And we're gonna be stuck in this thing for, like, five hours, so why not?"

Scott ignored him though and Jessie didn't say anything. She didn't want to talk about it either.

Stiles realized that they weren't going to play along, "Next word—Intransigent."

"Stubborn, obstinate," Scott answered and then the next second the bus hit a bump and Scott winced harshly in pain, holding his abdomen.

"Scott?" Jessie asked in concern, "Are you okay?"

"We shouldn't have come," Stiles determined. "I knew it. We shouldn't have come."

"We had to," Scott told him. "There's safety in numbers."

"Yeah, well, there's also death in numbers, okay?" Stiles retorted, gazing down at his touch pad, "It's called a massacre or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter, butchery—wow—that's" Scott winced again in pain and Stiles clenched his jaw, "All right, Scott, I'm telling coach that-"

"No no no no," Scott pulled him back onto the seat. "I'm all right."

"You're not all right, Scott," Jessie argued.

"Would you just let us see it?" Stiles asked him.

Scott looked between them, "I'm okay guys."

"Just let us see it, okay?" Stiles goaded.

Scott considered it for a moment before finally sighing, "Okay," and twisting his torso to pull up his shirt, revealing the deep slashed across his abdomen that looked way too fresh.

Jessie gasped as quietly as she could without being heard, "Oh my god—Scott-"

"I'm okay, Jessie," Scott whispered to her, knowing she'd worry herself to death over him. "It's just because they're from an Alpha. It'll take longer to heal."

"How come Isaac and Baako are fine then?" Stiles pointed out.

Scott leaned against the window, ignoring the question, "I can't believe he's dead."

Jessie averted her eyes to her lap, leaning her back against the window and pulling her legs up on the seat, "I know..."

"I just... can't believe Derek's dead," Scott muttered miserably.

* * *

_"They all live in the same building as the Argents," Derek announced. Jessie stood between her brother and Scott with Isaac behind her. Cora leaned against the table next to Derek and Peter._

_"Cora and I followed the twins," Baako explained to Scott and Jessie._

_"Then they want you to know," Scott pointed out._

_"Or, more likely, they don't care," Peter shot him down._

_"So you have... apartment blue prints," Jessie noticed the papers spread across the table, flashing back to the night they all examined the bank blue prints to go rescue Baako and Erica. "For what?"_

_"Isn't it obvious?" Peter asked her, "The schemers are scheming, coming up with a coup de main, better known as a pre-emptive strike."_

_Jessie stared wide-eyed at Derek, "You're going after them?"_

_"Tomorrow," Derek confirmed, looking between her and Scott, "And you're gonna help us."_

* * *

"Two of you, back in your seats," Coach barked at a couple guys before glaring down at the kid in the seat behind his, "Jared, again? Car sick?" The glasses-wearing cross country member grimaced with tight lips and nodded. "Every time—how do you even get on the bus?"

Jared had no answer, not even wanting to open his mouth, staring down at the floor.

"Look at me," Coach told him, but when Jared actually did look at him, growing green in the face, he thought better of it, "No, don't look at me. Look at the horizon. Keep your eyes on the horizon." Jared meekly nodded and cast his eyes out the window.

Coach then caught sight of Scott leaning against his window, "McCall, not you too!"

Scott grunted, "No, Coach, I'm good."

"Scott, your shirt," Jessie pointed out quietly. They all looked down at his shirt where blood was starting to seep out from his wounds.

"Okay, you can't tell me that it's just taking longer to heal, okay?" Stiles shot at him. "Because I'm pretty sure that still bleeding means not healing, like, at all."

Scott wasn't paying attention to them though, looking towards Ethan who had his head titled in their direction, "He's listening."

"Is he gonna do something?" Stiles asked him.

"Not in front of this many people," Scott assured him.

"Okay, well, what about the ticking time bomb sitting right near him?" Stiles nodded his head toward where Isaac was sitting alone.

"No, he won't do anything," Jessie told them both. "He knows better."

* * *

_"They're one floor above them in the penthouse—right above Allison," Derek explained._

_"So kill them first, that's the plan?" Scott asked them._

_"That's a stupid plan," Jessie muttered, leaning her hands on the table._

_"They won't even see it coming, Jessie," Baako pointed out to her._

_"Why is the default plan always murder?" Scott asked his best friend's brother. "Just once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?"_

_"You two never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?" Peter mocked them, making Jessie roll her eyes. Peter tilted his head toward his nephew, "Not that I disagree with him."_

_"I do," Cora chimed in, casting her eyes toward Scott and Jessie with contempt. "Why do we need these kids?"_

_"Kids?" Jessie snorted, "We're the same age, she-wolf. And we-" she pointed in between her and Scott, "Happened to both save you and stop you from hurting other—innocent—people when you were a bloodthirsty mongrel. So I'd watch what you say like you think you're any better than us."_

_"Moving on," Derek droned, knowing a fight could happen when these girls were tense. "You know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move."_

_"You can't beat a pack of alphas," Scott told them._

_"That's why we're going after Deucalion," Cora explained stiffly. "Just him."_

_"Cut off the head of the snake," Baako explained, "and the body dies."_

_"We all know Deucalion is the real leader," Isaac told them. "They'll be lost without him."_

_"Only this isn't a snake, it's a hydra," Peter alluded, "And like Scott says, they're all alphas."_

_"Deucalion's still the leader," Derek argued._

_"Let's hope so," Peter muttered derivatively, "Because you know what happened when Hercules cut off one of the heads of the hydra?"_

_"Two more grew back in its place," Scott answered, remembering the story Jessie had made him read._

_"Somebody's been doing their summer reading," Peter smirked._

* * *

"So is that whole 'not let them out of your sight' thing literal or more like a general rule?" Lydia asked from the passengers seat of Allison's car as they stalked the bus on its way tot he meet.

"Why?" Allison asked, keeping her eyes trained on the yellow bus.

"You're running on fumes," Lydia pointed her finger toward the gas gauge.

"Ugh," Allison grunted when she saw the gas light on and the stick on the 'E'.

"Yeah..." Lydia trailed off, "And I'm pretty sure that bus holds a lot more gas than this Toyota."

"What if we stop?" Allison asked worriedly.

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Lydia asked exasperated. "I mean, so we lose them. We know where they're headed."

Allison shook her head, "You didn't see what happened."

Lydia pulled up her massive text book and glazed her eyes over it, muttering, "I know who started it."

"Is that what Aiden told you?" Allison transparently accused.

"Aiden?" Lydia asked, surprised he was being brought up before she realized something, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. Is that why you invited me on this whole little road trip thing?"

Allison kept her eyes on her gas gauge and on the bus, choosing not to grace her friend with an answer.

"Oh, my gosh," Silence was apparently enough for Lydia, "You're keeping an eye on them—and me."

"So there's nothing going on between you two?" Allison asked her, not believing it for a second.

"I'm appalled by the insinuation," Lydia squeaked.

"Nothing?" Allison smirked at her.

"Nothing," Lydia grunted, applying pink lip stick to her lips, not even believing herself.

* * *

The bus lurched to a halt. Cars honked in the trail of vehicles stuck bumper to bumper.

Scott grimaced in pain, ignoring Jessie's looks. Jessie sighed and tugged out her father's journal from her bag, setting in on her lap. Her eyes trailed over the pages.

_I showed Tanya what I could do today. Just a peak. She's still coming to terms with what I am. I moved flower petals from her bouquet her father gave her. I used them to spell words in the air, 'Tanya + Wesley = Forever'. Cheesy I know, but I couldn't tell her that I love her—not yet._

So Wesley had this ability to move things too—telekinesis. But Jessie wondered if it was a family trait or a general vampire power. She was desperate for answers.

* * *

Cora sat in the busted escalator where Derek and Ennis fell to their deaths. Fingering a trail of blood when she heard a noise. She whipped up to her feet, seeing Peter standing at the top of the escalator, "It's just me, your Uncle—Uncle Peter."

"Uncle Peter who killed sister Laura," Cora stated, revealing the truth she knew.

"Mmm," Peter hummed, "Not my finest hour, no. But I'm hardly the only dysfunction family member. Did Derek mention that he killed me too? Slashed my throat, ear to ear."

Cora walked up the steps toward him, "So that means I should trust you?"

Peter gave her a condescending look, "Actually, I'm wondering if I can trust you."

"You've know me for 17 years," Cora argued.

"I knew you for 11," Peter pointed out, "leaving the last six unaccounted for. And I'm not particularly fond of things unaccounted for."

"What are you doing here?" Cora changed the subject.

"Same as you," Peter willingly told her, gesturing around the abandoned mall. "Wondering where the bodies went. Wondering if they were carried out—or maybe if one of them managed to find enough strength to push themselves up off the floor and walk out. Leaving the two of us standing here to answer the all-important question."

"Which one?" Cora knew.

Peter stiffened, "We've got company."

Both werewolves looked around until Cora caught sight of a figure dressed in all black, lurking on the floor above them half behind a pillar. When the figure noticed they caught sight of them, they swiftly turned and ran out of the pillar toward one of the exits.

"Hey!" Cora shouted, her eyes glowing yellow in frustration.

The figure didn't make it to the open exit. Smoke lifted off their body, like particles of them were becoming smoke until all of their figure disappeared into the air, not a trace to be found.

"What the hell was that?" Cora growled.

* * *

_"I don't know what else to do," Scott sighed, at the end of his last straw._

_Jessie stood next to him, Deaton standing on the other side of the table in the back room of the vets office._

_"Do I keep trying to get them to listen to me?" Scott asked, his head in his hands and Jessie's hand on his shoulder, "Do I tell Derek that he's gonna get them all killed? How do you save someone who doesn't want to be saved? How do I stop them?"_

_Deaton smiled gently at Scott, "Don't stop them. Lead them."_

* * *

_"You're planning something, Scott," Jessie stated as the friends walked out of Derek's loft to her car._

_"Just trust me, Jessie," Scott asked her as the came to stand by her car._

_"I do trust you, Scott," Jessie assured him, "It's them I don't trust."_

_"It's going to be okay," Scott reassured her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, leaning down to kiss her forehead right on the scar from Allison's arrow last year, "I promise."_

* * *

"We got another problem," Stiles stated, startling Jessie out of her reading.

"What?" Jessie sighed, noticing Stiles' eyes were trained on Ethan.

"Ethan keeps checking his phone, like, every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, you know, like, a message or a signal of some kind—I don't know, something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, you know that."

"I don't like him sitting with Danny," Scott stated as well, worried for his friend.

"Yeah, neither do I," Stiles stated.

"What if Ethan actually likes him?" Jessie posed for them. "That could be a good thing."

Stiles pulled out his phone, rapidly typing something on it.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked.

"I'm gonna ask."

They saw Danny look at his phone and look back at them. Stiles smiled and waved, phone in hand. Danny shook his head at him, mouthing 'no'. Stiles frowned, typing into his phone with attitude and purpose. Danny again, shook his head, answering no. The two kept texting back and forth until Danny sighed and just put his phone away. Stiles didn't give up though. He practically spammed Danny's phone, the text alert beep sounding again and again and again in his pocket, causing Ethan to look at him awkwardly.

Scott and Stiles leaned over their seat trying to listen to what Danny and Ethan were talking about. The latter group of boys looked back at the pair of friends, who quickly ducked back into their seat, crouching out of sight.

"Subtle," Jessie teased them, smirking at the whole ordeal.

Stiles grumbled until his phone beeped. He pulled it out, showing them Danny's replay.

**Someone close to him is sick. Might not make it thru the night.**

"Ennis?" Scott guessed.

"That means he's not dead," Stiles surmised.

"Not yet," Scott continued his thought.

"If Ennis is alive..." Jessie trailed off, "Could Derek have survived the fall too?"


	9. Somatoformic

Deaton mulled over some x-rays, his mind torn between three things; what happened between the Alpha Pack and Derek's pack, his actual work—and his conversation with Sonia Mortem.

_"What do you plan to do, Sonia?" Deaton asked the young woman. She had invited him in, sent Georgie to bed, and now they sat around the kitchen island with mugs of steaming herbal tea._

_"If there really is another witch practitioner here—and he or she is killing people..." Sonia trailed off. "Then I'll have to call them."_

_"After all these years hiding from them," Deaton frowned, "you would jeopardize everything you came here to protect and build for yourself and for your sister."_

_"By law they can not do anything to me or her," Sonia told him after a moments pause. "I don't practice anymore—Georgie never practiced. By definition—we're human. They can not interfere with us, but they can stop whoever is doing this once we have proof that it is a practitioner."_

_"Do you really think they've grown so much in the past fourteen years?" Deaton posed for her._

_Sonia hesitated, "I don't know. All I know is that I can't stand by while innocents are being slaughtered in the name of sacrifice. It is an insult to those of us that have grown to modernize ourselves and leave the old ways for our heritage to the past. And if it isn't a practitioner—if it's someone else doing this in the name of a Darach—then it may not be necessary to involve them."_

_"And if it really comes to that?" Deaton asked her patiently. "What about Georgie, Sonia? It may also be time to tell her the truth."_

_Sonia drew her eyes to the counter in thought. Yes—it may be time. "Not yet."_

A knock at the door jolted him out of his thoughts, "It's open."

When he didn't hear anyone answer him he walked around to the front to see Morrell standing at the gate with Aiden and Kali behind her supporting an unconscious and bloody Ennis. Morrell stood with a very serious look on her face, "We could use a little help."

Deaton put his hand in his lap coat's pockets, "Try the hospital."

"Open the gate, Alan," Ms. Morrell told him, addressing him by his first name.

"No," Deaton answered her sternly.

"Help us," Kali growled, standing next to Morrell. She brushed back the other woman's hair, threatening, "Or maybe I just kill her," her eyes flashed Alpha-red.

"Not here you won't," Deaton told her with certainty.

Kali blinked in confusion as something in the office made her shift back to human form, her teeth retreating and her eyes turning brown again.

Deaton glared between the wolves, "I suggest you leave. Don't make me insist."

"Alan," Ms. Morrell caught his attention, "If he dies, they'll go after the others. And don't think your little protege Scott won't find his way into the middle of it. They'll kill him—you know they will." Deaton considered her, still stern. "Alan, please."

Deaton struggled inwardly, before finally reaching down and pushing the gate open.

* * *

"Jared, I'm warning you," Coach glared at the boy, "I'm an empathetic vomiter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you. And it will be profoundly disgusting."

The boy groaned, "Please don't talk about throwing up. It's not good."

"I might throw up on you just to make a point, Jared," Coach continued.

"It's not good," Jared muttered to himself, "It's not good."

"Now the rest of you," Coach announced to the team, "Don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, a minor tornado warning—Jared," he pointed accusingly to the boy mentioned, "We're gonna make this thing. Nothing is gonna stop us! Stilinski, put your hand down."

Stiles half-lowered his hand sheepishly, "You know, there's, like, a food exit about a half a mile up. I don't know if we stop and then maybe-"

"We're not gonna stop!" Coach barked at him.

"Okay," Stiles conceded, before going on, "But if we stop-"

"Stilinski!" Coach shouted, "Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!"

"I hate him," Stiles muttered, leaning back in his seat. He glanced at Scott, "Did you call Deaton?"

"I keep getting his voice mail," Scott grunted in pain.

"That's it," Stiles dug in his pocket for his phone, "I'm calling Lydia and Allison."

"How could they help in any way?" Jessie asked.

"They're back in Beacon Hills anyway," Scott muttered.

"No they're not," Stiles pointed behind them, "They're been following us for hours. Pathetic."

Jessie tuned in to hear the conversation, hearing Lydia's voice answer, "Hey, Stiles. We're just about to walk into a movie, uh, you know-"

"I know you guys are right behind us," Stiles interrupted, "Put me on speaker."

"Okay," Lydia answered sheepishly.

"Okay, look, Scott's still hurt," Stiles told them.

There was a moment of silence before Allison spoke, "What do you mean still? He's not healing?"

"No, he's not healing," Stiles looked at Scott as he spoke. "I think he's actually getting worse. The blood's turning, like, a black color."

"What's wrong with him?" Lydia asked.

Stiles rolled his eyes, "What's wrong with him? I don't have a PhD in lycanthropy—how am I supposed to know that?"

"We need to get him off the bus," Allison determined.

Lydia's voice asked her, "And take him where, a hospital?"

"If he's dying, yeah," Allison answered her. "Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. Tell the coach to pull over."

"Yeah, I've been trying," Stiles grumbled.

"Well, reason with him," Allison told him.

"Reason?" Stiles nearly shouted, slouching and lowering his volume once they noticed Georgie in the next seat over giving them a weird look. "Have you met this guy?"

"Just try something," Allison said again, frustrated.

* * *

Stiles faced off with Coach in the middle of the bus, "Coach, it's five minutes for a bathroom break, okay? We've been on this thing for, like, three hours-"

Coach blew his whistle in his face, not bothering to let the whistle drop from his lips.

"It's 60 miles to the next rest stop-"

Whistle.

"Being cooped up for hours is not good-"

Whistle.

Stiles was starting to lose his patience, his voice getting louder, "You know, our bladders aren't exactly-"

Whistle.

"Coach this is-"

Whistle.

"Can you-"

Whistle.

"Please let me talk!"

Looooooong whistle.

"Coach!" Jessie shouted, standing up and pushing Stiles out of the way to stand and look the Coach in the eye, "We need to stop and rest and then maybe traffic will let up. Pull the bus over!"

Coach looked at her for a moment, and she thought he was going to whistle in her face. But he did something neither expected. He complied, "Okay, Hansen. Guys! We're pulling over for a five minute bathroom break! Not a minute longer!"

When coach turned his back to speak with the driver, Stiles gave Jessie an incredulous look, "How did you do that?"

Jessie shrugged, "I don't know..."

* * *

Jessie and Stiles held Scott up by his arms, taking him to the mens room with Lydia and Allison trailing behind them. They didn't notice, but Georgie watched them as they passed, going to tap Isaac on the shoulder, "Yeah?"

"What's wrong with Scott?" Georgie asked in concern.

Isaac cast a look toward the bathroom where his girlfriend had gone in with the others, worried enough himself. "He's just not feeling well."

Stiles and Jessie gently sat Scott down by the sinks. Stiles stood with Lydia and Allison while Jessie pulled up Scott's shirt, gasping at the sight of his wound bleeding thick black goo, the color traveling up his veins.

"Oh my god," Allison gasped. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Sorry," Scott muttered, hanging onto consciousness.

Jessie lightly slapped his face, cupping his chin in her hand, "Scott, stay up, alright? Stay awake—stay with me."

"This shouldn't be happening," Allison murmured. "I've seen him heal from worse than this."

"Okay, what do we do then?" Stiles asked. "Do we just call an ambulance?"

"They wouldn't be able to do anything," Jessie said from her seated position next to Scott.

"You know, it could be psychological," Lydia thought up.

"What do you mean, like, psychosomatic?" Stiles asked her.

"No, somatoformic," Lydia answered him, "A physical illness from a psychogenic cause."

"It's all in his head," Jessie explained, sensing that Stiles was getting frustrated from not understanding.

"Because of Derek," Stiles realized. "He's not letting himself heal 'cause Derek died."

"So what do we do?" Allison asked, chewing on her thumbnail.

"Stitch him up," Lydia pulled a small kit out of her purse, seeing the three of them give her 'really?' looks, "I'm serious, maybe all he needs to do is just believe it's healing."

* * *

Deaton carefully cut through Ennis' shirt, surveying the injuries with a critical eye, "Someone please turn the sign on the front door to 'closed'. This could take a while."

* * *

"He's gonna need another shirt," Jessie told Stiles. "Can you get his bag?"

"Yeah—I hate needles anyway," Stiles made to leave, hesitating. "You know what you're doing?"

Allison didn't take her eyes off the needle she was sterilizing with a lighter, "Yeah, my father taught me."

"I mean—how fast are you gonna..." Stiles swallowed, "I mean, the bus, like, the bus could leave."

"Stall it then," Jessie told him.

"I can help," Lydia followed Stiles out of the bathroom.

Jessie handed Allison some thread, but she didn't take it. She stared at the outstretched thread with wide-eyes, emotion swimming in them. "Allison?"

Her eyes snapped up to her former friend, "I don't think—I can't do it..."

"Allison, you can do it," Jessie said. "You have to. Scott needs help."

Allison stared between the thread, the needle and Scott on the floor, tears beginning to fall, "I can't—I can't—I can't..."

"Okay then hand me the needle," Jessie told her shortly, nearly ripping the sterilized needle from her hands. "Keep an eye on the door, okay?"

Allison shakily nodded and stepped away. Jessie kneeled in front of Scott, "Scott?" Scott's eyes were slipping closed. Jessie grabbed his chin again, "Stay with me Scott, please. Stay awake."

Jessie concentrated hard and poked the thread through the needle slowly and carefully. She quickly finished it and went to hold some skin together to start stitching him up but before her hand touched him, the skin rapidly pulled itself together and healed before her eyes—not completely though. The black goo in his veins was gone. The gashes were smaller than they used to be but still there. Scott blinked, "What happened?"

Jessie sighed out in relief, "You're healing." She lent forward to wrap her arms around Scott's neck, just so overcome with relief and happiness that he was healing—that he was getting better. Scott chuckled at her enthusiasm, "I told you it would heal," but he wrapped his arms around her back.

* * *

"Let's go!" Coach whistled at everyone from the bus, "Back on the bus!"

Lydia and Stiles exchanged worried looks.

* * *

_Scott threaded his arms into his jacket, picking up his helmet. When he turned around, he gasped at the sight of Isaac in his bedroom doorway, "Whoa."_

_"Where are you going?" Isaac asked nonchalantly._

_"Uh, I was gonna... go get some food to eat," Scott thought up._

_"Oh, cool, I'll come with you," Isaac offered._

_"Nah, dude, it's okay," Scott assured him. "I can eat alone."_

_"What are you getting?" Isaac asked him curiously._

_"Um, Mexican," Scott made up on the spot._

_"Dude, I love Mexican-"_

_"Isaac," Scott interrupted him seriously, making Isaac's fake smile drop. "I can eat alone—it's okay."_

_"You're not going alone," Isaac told him just as seriously. "We'll take Jessie's car."_

_"Jessie?" Scott asked him, a small accusation in his tone._

_"Did you really think she couldn't see right through you?" Isaac smirked at him._

* * *

_Jessie drove, breaking numerous speeding laws on the way, and parked in front of the abandoned mall. Isaac took her hand in his as they walked with Scott inside. Jessie kept a hand on Scott's jacket sleeve as he spoke, "We're just gonna talk to him, try to reason with him. That's it, all right?"_

_Isaac gave him a look._

_"What?"_

_"Nothing," Isaac muttered, "It's just that, uh, I'm actually kind of hungry now."_

_Scott chuckled and Jessie smiled at the break of humor, "Me too."_

_"We'll eat later," Jessie promised._

* * *

"Is he okay?" Lydia ran toward Scott behind supported by Allison and Jessie. Lydia took Scott's bag from Allison and walked with them, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Scott muttered, "Where's Stiles?"

"Trying to stall coach," Lydia answered, peering toward Allison. "We still don't have gas."

"I'm not leaving him," Allison determined.

"Then we have to leave the car," Lydia sarcastically replied.

"Sounds good," Allison didn't catch on.

"What?" Lydia squeaked. "That wasn't an actual suggestion."

* * *

_Deucalion stood, hands on his walking stick, in the middle of one of the empty escalators, "You didn't come alone."_

_"Yeah," Scott accepted as Jessie's hands slipped form his sleeve and Isaac's hand, "This is Isaac—and Jessie."_

_"I'm not talking about Isaac and little Miss Grimm," Deucalion announced._

_Derek appeared from the shadows, already transformed, Baako and Cora flanking him._

_"You knew I would do this?" Scott realized. "Derek, don't. You can't do this so no one gets hurt. If someone else dies-"_

_"Him," Derek growled, pointing at Deucalion, "Just him."_

_"Just me?" Deucalion asked, though it sounded more like a statement. "Now, how's a blind man find his way into a place like this all on his own?"_

_The heard the scratching and crumbling of stone as Kali slid down a pillar by the claws of her hands and her feet. Scott, Jessie and Isaac turned when they heard Ennis making his way up from the lower floor by another broken escalator, already transformed._

_On the floor above them, the twins stood at the edge of the ground, the railing long gone._

_In a moment of fear, Jessie grabbed Scott's sleeve by his elbow, the friends exchanging a grim look._

* * *

Once outside and closer to the other cross country members, the group started to hear shouting and saw a crowd forming around someone. "Stiles, what's happening?" Scott asked as Stiles found them with a worried look on his face.

"He went after Ethan," Stiles answered, "I told him what was happening with you and Isaac just went after him."

"Isaac?" Jessie asked in shock, ducking out of Scott's arm and rushing toward the group, pushing her way to the front to be greeted with the sight of her boyfriend smashing his fist repeatedly into Ethan's face.

"Isaac!" Jessie shouted for his attention. His fist stuttered in the air but still landed on its target. Ethan wasn't even fighting back.

"Isaac! Back off!" Coach yelled, whistling.

"Isaac—stop it!" Jessie yelled at him, "Stop it now! You need to calm down! Isaac!"

Scott suddenly appeared next to her, a hand on her shoulder as he was still weak, and he yelled, "ISAAC!" in the same voice he used when Isaac panicked in the janitor's closet.

Isaac completely backed off, not being able to land another punch in Ethan's face. He stared at Scott in shock. Jessie sighed, her and Scott leaning against each other as they stared at Isaac back, ignoring the whispers all around them from the other students.

* * *

"An animal clinic?" Cora asked as she and Peter stood in front of Deaton's office.

"It's not as ordinary as it looks," Peter told her. "The building's half made out of mountain ash. I'm not actually sure how to get in."

"Well, maybe we could do what normal people do—and knock on the door," Cora suggested, starting to walk for it but Peter grabbed her arm to stop her.

"They're here," He sensed.

"Who?" Cora asked him, knowing it wasn't anyone friendly.

"All of them."

"But how do we know who's in there?" Cora asked her uncle, "Is it Derek or Ennis or... both?"

They heard the door slam open and quickly ducked behind the car. Kali stormed out of the office, pushing Aiden's comforting hands off of her. But he wrestled with her wrists until he had them in his grasp and she growled up at the sky in fierce rage and agony, the sound setting off car alarms.

"Well, we know one thing," Peter told her as he led her away. "That wasn't for Derek."

* * *

_Derek growled and immediately went to attack his one and only target—Deucalion. But Kali landed in front of him, transforming as she swung her body around to kick at him with her clawed feet. Derek faced off with her, ducking at her swinging leg and swiping at her with his arms._

_The twins jumped from the floor above them all, merging into their Mega-Alpha form seamlessly. Baako growled and immediately went to attack them and got thrown to the floor. Jessie gasped at the sight of her brother being thrown around and ran to his aid, ignoring Scott's shouts, "Jessie—don't!"_

_Jessie scurried in front her brother's fallen body and shouted, "No!" raising her hands in front of her, even slightly pushing them forward, the force propelling the merged twins into the stone wall behind them, leaving a crater in the cement and causing the twins to split._

_Derek grabbed Kali's arm, twisting her around and kicking her in the stomach._

_Isaac had gone after Ennis, Scott reluctantly following after him. The two tried to team up against the larger Alpha, but Ennis avoided their swipes easily. He kicked Isaac in the stomach, dropping him to the floor and while Scott looked to check on his friend, Ennis swiped at him with his claws, slashing his torso. Scott coughed in pain, bending over on the stone floor._

_Cora growled and ran for Ennis, raising her right arm to swipe at him. But Ennis caught her arm and twisted her away from him, smashing his hand into her arm, breaking the bone. Cora screamed at the sharp pain as Ennis threw her to the ground._

_Jessie caught sight of Deucalion standing serenely on the escalator steps, anger rushing through her and also her need for answers. She ran to stand in front of him on the ground, "Deucalion! You know something about me. The twins saw what I could do and said 'it's her'. What do you know?"_

_She didn't get an answer though before one of the twins came up behind her and lifted her like a rag doll, throwing her into the same wall she smashed the twins into. She landed with a painful thud._

_Isaac had brought himself up to go get her, but he was accosted by Ennis and thrown further away on the ground. Scott dragged himself over to her meanwhile, picking her head up off the ground, "Jessie!"_

_Jessie groaned, "Scott..."_

_Ennis picked Baako up, holding him for Kali to swiftly swipe at him with her clawed foot, pulling him down for the count and pushing him to Derek's feet._

_Both twins took Isaac in their clutches as Ennis stood by Scott and Jessie with an arm on Scott's shoulder, Jessie's head in the boy's lap. Cora laid on the floor with Kali's restraining foot on her neck._

_"Kill him!" Deucalion demanded of Derek, obviously referring to the weakened Baako at his feet._

_Derek and Baako exchanged horrified looks, Derek looking back at Deucalion._

_"The others can go," Deucalion promised. "You're beaten. Do it, Derek. Take the first step."_

_"Are we serious with this kid?" Kali mocked. "Look at him. He's an Alpha? To what? A couple of useless teenagers?" She looked around at the others they've detained._

_Jessie groaned in Scott's lap as she heard Deucalion say, "Some have more promise than others."_

_"Let him rise to the occasion then," Kali surmised. "What'll it be, Derek? Pack... or family?" She lowered her foot on Cora's neck, the young girl choking in pain at the pressure._

_Derek looked between his sister and his beta. But before he could make a move to do anything, an arrow whizzed through the air, hitting the twin holding Isaac. Another arrow flew through the air, a flash bolt lighting up and blinding Kali, making her screech._

_"Your eyes!" Deucalion shouted, crouching in his perch as more flash bolt arrows exploded near them, "Cover your eyes!"_

_Allison let enough arrows out to give Cora, Scott, Isaac and Derek the chance to get away from their captors. Scott grunted as he helped Jessie stand up, she still felt weak but she was gaining more consciousness as Isaac came to stand next to her and take her into his arms instead._

_Derek and Cora supported Baako as Scott growled at Ennis who hadn't been blinded. The two wolves ignored their circle of on-lookers as they ran for each other, smashing their shoulders together with an almost equal force. Jessie gasped when Scott looked up with red eyes, "Oh my god..."_

_Scott groaned and blinked, his eyes going back to their normal yellow color. Derek came up behind Ennis and punched him in the back. The two swiped at each other, Ennis getting a good shot in and punching Derek in the face. Derek tumbled but landed on his feet easily, coming back up for more. Derek landed a punch in his chest, the two grabbing for each other, trying to get the upper hand as they got closer and closer the ledge of the second floor they were on._

_Scott and Jessie noticed. Scott tried to crawl toward them as Jessie shouted, "Derek!"_

_Ennis headbutted Derek in the face as they continued to struggle. Scott slid his body closer and swiped his claw into the back of Ennis' calf. The Alpha growled in pain, his knee buckling underneath him. Derek tried to use the opportunity to throw Ennis over the edge, but the other Alpha kept a tight grip on him, pulling him over the ledge with him._

_Jessie screamed, "DEREK!" breaking out of Isaac's arms and rushing toward the ledge, watching with Scott as Derek and Ennis fell to the lower floor and crashed to their deaths on the broken escalators with a harsh, echoing bang._

_"NO!" Jessie shouted, feeling Isaac's arms pulling her away from the edge of the floor. Isaac scrambled to pull Scott away, the two friends joined hands as tears began to stream down her cheeks._

* * *

"Let's go over this one more time," Stiles conversed with Lydia in the seat second to the back. Jessie sat with Scott behind them and Allison sat with Isaac next to Jessie and Scott. Scott still leaned against the cold window. "So it's the sacrifices, right? Everything has to do with them and someone who thinks he's, like, a dark druid of some kind."

"Or actually is a dark druid," Lydia pointed out.

Stiles mulled it over, "A Darach."

"You know..." Lydia began hesitantly, "Some ancient cultures sacrificed people—in preparation for battle."

"So we got Alpha werewolves against a dark druid," Stiles summed up.

"Yeah," Lydia muttered.

Behind them, Jessie peered at Scott in concern, "If Derek really is... dead—it's not your fault."

Scott sighed, "...maybe..."

"Not maybe," Jessie told him, "Actually. Scott—there isn't anything else we could've done that we didn't. We warned him. They were too close to the edge. It wasn't our fault. It wasn't."

"Thank you, Jessie," Scott whispered, leaning over to kiss her forehead where her scar was.

* * *

Deaton grimly looked at Ms. Morrell as she covered Ennis' dead body with a sheet, "I don't think you really know what you've gotten yourself into here."

"It's a little late to be playing big brother, don't you think?" She asked back.

* * *

Marissa sighed as she stepped out of the bakery for the day, trusting Naomi and Chelsea to close up shop without her. She made her way to the small parking lot next to the bakery and swiftly entered her car, putting her purse on the passengers seat next to her. She was about to put the key in the ignition when she heard something slam against her window.

She screamed, startled by the noise, and gasped loudly when she saw a bloody hand print put there by none of than Derek Hale. Marissa scrambled to get out of her car as Derek fell to the floor, coughing up blood. "Derek!" She knelt by his body and cupped his head in her hands, "Derek!"


	10. One Night

The bus pulled up to a motel late that night. Jessie followed Scott and Stiles out of the bus with Isaac behind her, seeing the green highlighted words spelling out 'Motel Glen Capri.' Scott looked up at the motel, "I've seen worse."

"Where have you seen worse?" Stiles asked him incredulously.

"The Hale House?" Jessie suggested smugly, a smirk on her face. Stiles was less than impressed.

"Listen up!" Coach called their attention, "The meet's been pushed 'till tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves." He held up an array of room keys, "You'll be pairing up. Choose wisely." Kids began to grab room keys from his hands, "And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants. Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!"

Isaac grabbed a room key and stood in front of Jessie sheepishly, "Will you stay with me?—Please?"

Jessie surveyed him and his puppy dog expression he knew would work on her and sighed, "Alright," grabbing the room key and his hand, going toward the stairs.

Allison had started walking toward the motel when she noticed Lydia just standing there, staring up at the place with dread. "Lydia?"

"I don't like this place," Lydia whispered.

"I don't think the people who own this place like this place," Allison assured her, laughing slightly, "It's just for a night."

"A lot can happen in one night."

* * *

"Well..." Isaac took a look around the room they were in, "This is cozy."

Jessie rolled her eyes, "Guess you could look at it that way. Not the words I would've used." She dumped her bag on the closest bed to the door and started pulling out some clothes to change into.

Isaac noticed that he'd already put his bag on the other bed when she chose to sit on the opposite bed, "You want to sleep on separate beds?"

"Coach said no sexual perversions," Jessie answered shortly, pulling her hair up into a bun.

"Sleeping doesn't have to be sexual," Isaac reasoned.

"Best not though," Jessie said anyway, "Avoid temptation."

Isaac sighed, "Jessie—what's wrong?"

Jessie paused in her actions, looking at him with a slightly gaping mouth, "What's wrong? Are you serious? Did you hit your head or something in between snapping at me, attacking Ethan in front of everybody and now?"

"As far as I knew, Scott was dying, and it was their fault," Isaac reasoned.

"And the snapping at me part when all I needed was you to comfort me?" Jessie posed for him. "And the kill first, ask questions later attitude. And the secrets. I mean—what relationship survives with stuff like that?"

"Secrets?" Isaac asked.

"I know Derek kicked you out," Jessie revealed. "And that's why you were already with Scott when I called and I know you were never planning on telling me. Tell me now, why is that?"

Isaac sighed in frustration, pushing a hand through his hair, "Because Derek is important to you. After what happened with Allison last year and the others, I didn't want you to lose trust in one more person—especially Derek when he's your link to your family. When he's practically family to you himself."

"I don't need you to protect me from stuff like that, Isaac, I can handle it," Jessie told him. "If I'm being attacked by a big bad Alpha—then you can step in. But don't hide things from me."

"I'm sorry," Isaac sincerely declared, stepping closer to her. "I don't want secrets either. But there's something I've been holding back on... asking you..."

"What is it?" Jessie asked him warily.

* * *

Stiles and Scott both laid flat on their own beds. Scott stared up at the ceiling in thought as he heard Stiles say, "All right, so I have five."

"Five?" Scott asked, "You have five suspects?"

"Yeah, it was originally ten," Stiles explained, "Well, nine technically, I guess. I had Derek on there twice."

"So who's number one? Harris?" Scott guessed.

"Just because he's missing doesn't mean he's dead," Stiles supported his theory.

"But what about Jessie's dream?" Scott posed. "She saw him getting sacrificed like the others."

"It was a dream," Stiles pointed out. "She also had a dream about an old hag washing blood out of clothes. But that hasn't happened that I'm aware of."

"So if he's not dead, our chemistry teacher is out secretly committing human sacrifices," Scott summed up, making Stiles stop short.

"Yeah, I guess that just sounded way better in my head."

"Well, what if it's somebody else from school?" Scott suggested. "Like, you remember Matt? We didn't know that he was killing people."

"Excuse me?" Stiles asked incredulously, sitting up in his bed and looking at him friend. "I'm sorry, what? I—yes, we did. I called that from day one, actually."

"Yeah, but we never really seriously thought that it was Matt," Scott defended.

Stiles stood up from his bed, causing Scott to sit up in his, "I was serious. I was quite serious, actually—deadly serious. No one listened to me."

Scott sighed, changing the subject, "Who are the other four?"

"Derek's sister, Cora," Stiles listed. "No one knows anything about her, and she's Derek's sister. Next, your boss."

"My boss?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, your boss. I don't really like the whole Obi-Wan thing he's got going on, you know," Stiles admitted, "It freaks me out."

Scott gave him a blank look upon his movie reference making Stiles look at him, "Oh, my god. Have you still not seen Star Wars?"

"I swear, if we make it back alive, I will watch the movie," Scott promised.

"Just makes me crazy," Stiles murmured.

"Who are the last two?" Scott interrupted.

Stiles sighed, "Next, Lydia." He came to sit on his bed again, not liking the fact that he suspected her, "She was totally controlled by Peter, and she had no idea."

"And the last one?" Scott asked, trying to move on from accusing their friend of murder.

"Fortunately the last one is most promising," Stiles revealed, "The smoke girl from the pool. She was with the first body and she can escape easily without being seen."

"You saw her," Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, but she'd already gotten what she wanted," Stiles reasoned.

"No one's said anything about a Darach being able to disappear into smoke," Scott pointed out.

"Whatever," Stiles snapped, "We should still figure out who she is."

* * *

"Why are we always taking you someplace other than a hospital when you're mortally wounded?" Marissa wheezed, trying to support Derek's nearly dead weight and open the loft door at the same time.

Derek breathed heavily on her shoulder, "No hospital. I'll heal."

"Are you sure about that?" Marissa posed for him, "This is worse than the night we met again. Remember? I almost hit you with my car."

Derek coughed out a laugh, "I remember."

* * *

Scott stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom on his motel room, peering into his own eyes. He leaned closer, slightly pulling the skin under his eye down, watching the brown iris begin to glow Alpha-Red. Startled, he leaned back, the red receding to brown immediately again.

What was going on?

* * *

"Seriously Isaac?" Jessie sighed exasperated. "You're seriously questioning me about Alex right now? Like we don't have enough problems."

"It's a valid concern, Jessie," Isaac defended himself. "He loves you. You know it—I know it—He knows it. And you two were alone together."

"Because opening my birth father's grave really sets a mood," Jessie sarcastically shot at him. "There is nothing going on between me and Alex and nothing will happen—he knows that. He knows that I chose you. But you still question me."

"I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning him—his motives," Isaac reasoned. "I mean—why is he going out of his way to help you like this?"

"Um, maybe because he's my friend," Jessie pointed out. "Maybe because he cares about me and wants to help me."

"Or maybe it's to wedge himself in between us," Isaac theorized. "Make himself look good by helping you with your problems while I look like the jackass who doesn't have enough time to be there for his girlfriend."

"Well right now you are being a jackass and I can't even talk to you anymore," Jessie growled, grabbing her phone from her bag and opening the motel door.

"Where are you going?" Isaac called after her.

"Out."

* * *

Stiles jogged down the stairs toward the vending machine on the ground. He turned at the stairs and noticed Georgie musing in front of the machine, pondering which treat to choose, absently chewing on her thumb nail.

"Hey Georgie," Stiles greeted, startling the girl.

She sighed when she noticed it was him, "Oh, Stiles. Hey."

"Nervous about something?" Stiles asked her.

"No, why would I be?" Georgie denied.

"Well nail chewing is a sign of nervousness," Stiles gestured to her thumb nail hovering in front of the corner of her mouth. "And I noticed you've been chewing them since the pit stop on the bus."

"You noticed me?" Georgie asked before she could stop herself, blushing furiously.

Stiles blushed, "Yeah... of course."

Georgie quickly pressed some numbers on the machine, watching the wheel rotate, brushing her hair behind her ear, "I didn't think you did... you stopped talking to me and... Heather..." she paused on the name of their deceased friend, "in middle school, and got all obsessed with Lydia."

Stiles instantly felt bad. She was right. He did ignore her for years. They used to be good friends but then he got obsessed with Lydia. And after all this time being closer to Lydia, seeing who she really was. She became more of a friend than an obsession. He went to apologize, "Well... I-"

Georgie interrupted him though, "It's okay. I should get back to my room." She gent down to grab her peanut butter crackers and walking toward the stairs, "I'm sharing with Jenna and I told her I'd only be gone a minute. Goodnight Stiles." She then quickly escaped up the stairs, ignoring Stiles calling out her name.

* * *

Allison brushed her fingers through her hair as the luke warm water brushed over her body. She heard the bathroom door slightly creak, "Lydia, did you get the new towels?" She heard nothing said in return, her brow furrowing. She went to pull the curtain away to get a look, "Lydia-" she broke off when she saw Scott standing in the bathroom, and began clutching the shower curtain to her chest, "What are you doing?"

Scott stared at her, dazed, "Looking for you."

"You found me," Allison stated uncomfortably, "In the shower. Slightly naked, if you didn't notice."

"I've seen you naked before," Scott pointed out, still dazed.

"Okay..." Allison stared back at him as he eyes traveled her body, "Well... remember, we're kind of not together anymore."

"We're still friends right?" Scott asked, his voice dropping lower. "We could just be closer friends." His hand slowly rose to touch her hand holding the shower curtain up, "Maybe it could even fix things between us." His hand gripped hers, starting to pull it away.

Allison pulled away from him, "Scott. What are you doing?"

Scott lurched back, blinking his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Allison whispered.

Scott shook his head as if to clear it, "Yeah, I was—um, sorry. I don't remember." He backed away to the door and walked out.

* * *

"Excuse me?" Lydia stood at the clerk's window with her room towels in her hands. "The card on the dresser says we have a non-smoking room, but somehow all of our towels reek of nicotine."

The woman behind the window turned around, "Sorry about that, sweetheart," revealing a tracheotomy tube in her throat.

Lydia avoided eye contact in embarrassment, catching sight of a number posted on the wall; '198'. "What's that? That number?"

The woman looked back at it before waving her hand dismissively and looking back at Lydia, "It's a kind of inside thing for the motel. My husband insists on keeping it up."

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked.

"It's a little bit morbid, to be honest," the woman croaked, her voice hoarse with the experience of smoking, "You sure you want to know?"

"Tell me," Lydia urged quietly.

"We're not gonna make the top of anyone's list when it comes to customer satisfaction," The woman began.

"Obviously," Lydia quipped intermittently.

"But we are number one in California when it comes to one disturbing little detail," she went on, undisturbed by Lydia's distaste for her motel, "Since opening, more than any other motel in California, we have the most guest suicides."

She looked back at the number, grinning, "And counting," she said this laughing at her own morbid joke, as if she took pleasure in being known for her guests taking their lives.

* * *

Isaac stared numbly at the television, remote control laying limply in his hand. The screen only showed black and white specks of nothing, just static. Static air and noise whizzed through his ears but it didn't faze him or break him from his numb stare as he flipped through channels of more and more static—a zombie.

* * *

Marissa laid Derek down on his bed and pulled his shirt up his torso, gasping sharply at the sight of claw marks in his torso, the wounds bleeding a thick black liquid.

"How bad?" Derek asked with a catch in his throat from the pain.

"Your blood is black," Marissa whispered worriedly, "What does that mean?"

Derek coughed violently, his eyelids dropping down. "Okay—I can handle this. I've patched you up before, remember?"

Derek didn't answer her though, his head lolling off to the side as he began to lose consciousness. "Derek!? Derek! Wake up, Derek, please."

Marissa felt his chest for a heartbeat, reaching for a pulse on his neck and holding her other hand in front of his mouth to see if she felt him breathing. She sighed in relief when she found both signs of life, laying her head on his shoulder, "Wake up, Derek, please don't die. I—I love you."

* * *

"198?" Allison asked Lydia as she towel dried her hair.

Lydia sat numbly on her bed, "Yes, and we're talking 40 years. On average, that's... actually expected." She paused, "But who commemorates that with a framed number? Who does that?"

"All suicides?" Allison mused.

"Yes. Hanging, throat-cutting, pill-popping, both-barrels-of-a-shotgun-in-the-mouth suicides," Lydia listed off, "I don't know about you, but me-" she cut off when she heard a clink and a boy's voice say, "Which—which one do you want?"

"Did you hear that?" Lydia whispered to Allison.

"Hear what?" Allison asked her.

Lydia heard another clink and this time a young girl's voice, "I don't know. The smaller one, I guess."

Lydia stepped up on her bed and stepped closer to the air vent, hearing the boy speak again, nervousness overwhelming his vocal chords, "It's okay. Smaller's better. There's less kick." There was a pause, baited breaths of two nervous teenagers before the boy cleared his throat awkwardly, "I'll chamber the round." There was the clink of metal before the boy began to speak again, "All right, so-"

"Wait, wait," the girls' voice interrupted him, "When do I—I mean, do you count?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll—I'll count to three," He explained to her.

Lydia breathed in shakily at realization of what she was hearing, her eyes wide and mouth hung slack.

"So after three or on three?" the girl asked him.

"You tell me," he answered her.

"Lydia?" Allison asked.

The girl sighed in thought, "One, two, then pull the trigger."

"Oh my god," Lydia whispered, "Oh my god."

"I love you," the boy told her with conviction.

"I love you too," she whispered back, choking on her words.

"One, two," the boy counted and then a pause before loud gun shots rang through the room.

Lydia jumped back, terrified, gasping loudly, covering her mouth.

"What is it Lydia? What happened?" Allison asked her friend.

"Did you hear that?" Lydia asked her, stepping down from the bed.

"Hear what?" Allison asked her wide-eyed.

"The two people in the other room—they shot each other," Lydia whispered, walking out of their room and down the hall.

"Lydia!" Allison called after her, following her to the next room over where Lydia opened the door and called inside, "Hello?"

She reached for the switch and flipped it on and off, no light entering the room. "Hello?"

"Lydia, what are you doing?" Allison asked her.

Lydia stepped inside, feeling her hand around the want until she felt a lamp light and switched it on. She gasped when the light revealed the room to be empty, no dead bodies, only tarps on the floor and equipment laying around the room, "It had to be right here." She looked around, desperately, "It was a guy and a girl, and, I mean, they sounded younger, but they were here."

"I believe you," Allison reassured her, "After everything we've been through, I believe you."

* * *

Jessie sighed as she texted her brother about Isaac's behavior. He wasn't much of a help, seeing as he could understand Isaac's jealously but not his actions. But Jessie just focused on relaxing as she laid on the motel roof, contemplating just sleeping there. But she knew she'd have to go back eventually.

She slowly sat up and and lept off the roof, landing gracefully on her two feet.

* * *

"You know, there is something seriously wrong with this place," Lydia determined, throwing her toiletries in her travel bag, "Allison, we need to leave."

"But they were suicides, not murders, and it's not like this place is haunted, right?" Allison tried to reason with her.

Lydia paused in her shuffling, sighing, "Maybe it is. You know, I bet that couple made their suicide pact in that very room. Maybe that's why they're renovating—maybe they've been scraping brain matter off the wood paneling."

"Maybe we should find out," Allison told her.

* * *

Isaac laid down on his bed, dazed and just trying to stay awake when he heard the door open and Jessie's voice, "Isaac?"

His eyes snapped open and he immediately sat up, standing up and rushing over to her, "You're back." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him tightly, "I didn't think you were coming back—I didn't know you'd come back."

"Of course I'm back," Jessie sighed into his shoulder.

"I didn't think you'd come back," Isaac whispered again, "I didn't-"

"Shh Isaac," Jessie whispered, kissing his cheek, "Let's just forget about it tonight and rest, okay?"

"I'm sorry—you deserve better," Isaac whispered, "I keep doing this. I can't fix this—I can't fix this."

Jessie covered his mouth with her hand, "It's. Oh. Kay. Like I said, we'll talk about it later. I have to go take a shower okay?"

"Okay," he answered her quietly.

Jessie walked into the bathroom and closed the door. A minuted later the water could be heard. Isaac took a seat on his bed and held his head in his hands. He started to hear cluttering. White noise and clinking of metal. Isaac looked around the room, from the rotating ceiling fan to the bathroom door. Nothing was there.

"Hand me the 7/16 wrench," his father's voice suddenly filled his ears, causing him to gasp under his breath.

"What the Hell?" Mr. Lahey cursed, "This is the 9/16, you moron. You know what the difference between a seven and a nine is, dumb-ass?"

Isaac spoke back, his voice tight, "You know the difference between a seven and a nine is—it's a stripped bolt."

"A stripped bolt," Mr. Lahey snapped.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" Isaac whispered shamefully, "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to shut up," Mr. Lahey yelled.

"I want you to shut up," Isaac snapped back, "Shut up—shut up. What can I do? I can't fix this now," Isaac spoke to himself, as if his deceased father was speaking through him, "I can't fix this now. I can't fix this—I can't fix it."

"I can't even keep it closed," Mr. Lahey berated him, "Grab the chains."

Rattling of metal chains filled his ears, "What? Grab the chains."

"Get in."

"I said, get in," Isaac spoke deeply.

"Are you not hearing me, son? Get in the damn freezer!" Mr. Lahey shouted, "Get in!"

Isaac lept back on his bed, folding his knees to his chest and covering his head with his pillow. He breathed in through his nose deeply, the whispering still filling his ears. He slowly took the pillow from his head, looking up, only to find himself right back into that damned freezer like the million of times he'd been in there before. He shouted out at the terror filling his body as the door closed in on him.

* * *

Allison and Lydia walked up to the clerk's window, seeing a sign up saying 'Back at 6 a.m.' Lydia sighed, "Well, there goes that."

"Did you say the sign said 198?" Allison asked her.

Lydia looked up at the sign that now read '201,' "It was 198—I swear to God it was 198."

"Okay, what does that mean, that there's been three more suicides?" Allison guessed.

"Or three more are about to happen."


	11. Hopeless

Scott heard his cellphone ringing and picked it up, answering it, "Hey, mom, what's up?" There was silence on the other end, "Mom?"

" _Scott?_ " He heard his mother speak with a hitch in her voice.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Scott asked worriedly.

" _I'm sorry, he just came in the house,_ " his mother breathed, " _I tried to stop him._ "

"Who, mom?" Scott asked her urgently, "Mom, where are you?"

" _Outside_ ," she answered quietly, " _Look outside._ "

Scott walked over to his window, his eyes widening upon seeing his mother being held by her throat by none other than Deucalion.

" _Scott can you hear me?_ " Deucalion's serene voice sounded over the phone.

"What do you want?" Scott asked him.

" _Isn't it obvious?_ " Deucalion posed for him, " _You're an Alpha now._ "

Scott shook his head to himself, denying it, "I'm not. I'm not. Derek—Derek could still be alive—He could-"

" _He's dead,_ " Deucalion rebutted him, " _You know he is, so now I'm coming for you. You and everyone you love. I'm coming for all of them._ " He dug his nails in and slashed Melissa's throat, her limp and dead body falling to the ground by her knees. Scott gasped loudly at the sight.

"Hey, Scott, you okay?" Stiles' voice sounded behind him, snapping him out of his trance.

Scott looked at his best friend, still breathing heavily and then back at the pavement where he saw no one. It was all an illusion.

Stiles felt his phone vibrate and saw a text from Lydia.

_We need to talk. Just you._

* * *

Jessie brushed out her wet hair, dressed in a sports bra, tank top and some yoga pants. When she exited the bathroom, she saw the room empty. No Isaac in sight.

"Isaac?" she called out into the room, but heard no answer.

She saw the blue light on her phone blinking and went to check it, seeing a text message from Lydia.

_We need to talk. Just you._

* * *

"Last time I saw Scott act like that—was during the full moon," Allison told the group.

"He was definitely a little off with me too," Stiles confirmed.

"Isaac too," Jessie sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "Mood swings. Like one minute he's snapping at me—the next he's panicking because he thought I'd go away. And then he disappeared."

"See, it is the motel," Lydia insisted, "Either we need to get out of here right now," she quickly opened the nightstand door and pulled out the red leather bible, "Or someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism ASAP, before the werewolves go crazy and kill us."

"Okay, just hold on, all right?" Stiles said seriously, "What if it's not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?"

"Three sacrifices," Jessie caught, "This time—three werewolves."

"Scott... Isaac..." Allison trailed off on her list.

"And Ethan," Jessie guessed, "He's the only other werewolf in this place."

"Maybe we were meant to come here," Stiles wondered out loud.

"Exactly!" Lydia snapped, "So can we get the hell out of here now? Please?"

"Wait, hang on," Stiles noticed something about the bible she was holding, "Let me see this."

Stiles opened it, taking out a newspaper clipping and reading the bold title, "28 year old man hangs himself at the infamous Glen Capri."

"There's more," Jessie said, taking the bible and shaking it over the bed, numerous newspaper clippings spilling out onto the bedspread.

Lydia grabbed at two pieces of paper, "Look at these two. They both mention the room 217."

"These are all the suicides that happened in your room," Jessie realized.

"So if every room has a Bible," Lydia put together, "There could be articles in all the rooms."

"That's a beautiful thing," Stiles commented sarcastically, "Most places leave a mint under the pillow. This one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred."

"What if the room next door has the one about the couple?" Lydia asked them.

They all immediately clambered out of the room and toward the one next door. Jessie's sensitive ears heard the revving of a handsaw in the room and a girl's voice shout, "No! Ethan, stop this! This isn't you!"

"I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?" Lydia asked them.

Stiles opened the door hurriedly and the group walked in to see Ethan holding the handsaw poised above his torso and Georgie standing with her hands outstretched in front of him, "Just put it down Ethan!"

Jessie rushed forward, calling inwardly upon her supernatural strength to yank the handsaw out of Ethan's hands as Lydia pulled the chord out of the wall. Ethan immediately grew out his claws, and cried out, trying to slash at his torso but Jessie grabbed both of his hands, her eyes glowing a vibrant blue as she swung Ethan around. He lost his footing and fell into the space heater, growling in pain.

Ethan then snapped out of his daze immediately, looking up at his company with confusion, "What just happened?" He lept up onto his feet and raced for the door.

"Ethan!" Georgie called out after him.

* * *

Marissa chewed at her pink nail, staring out the window of Derek's loft when she heard him grunt behind her. She turned to see him gingerly sitting up, still mortally wounded. "Derek, lay back down."

"I need to find them," Derek protested, "They think I'm dead."

Marissa walked over to his side and pushed on his shoulders. Luckily he was weak enough for her to have the strength to push him back down, "You can find them later—when you're actually okay. I think they'd be happier to see you completely healed than hanging on for dear life. Please—Derek just lay down and focus on getting better. For me."

* * *

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Ethan snapped at them, shrugged on his jacket and racing down the stairs, "I don't know how I got there or what I was doing."

"Okay, you could be a little bit more helpful, you know? We did just save your life," Stiles pointed out.

"And you probably shouldn't have," Ethan snapped at him, walking off.

Lydia sighed in frustration, "What now?"

"I'll go look for Isaac and Scott," Jessie suggested, "You guys head to the bus. We'll steal it if we have to." She made for the stairs and raced off.

"Why is she getting Isaac and Scott?" Georgie questioned.

Stiles, Lydia and Allison turned to her, only now just realizing the implications of what the girl saw in that room. Stiles peered at her, "What were you doing in there?"

Georgie flapped her hands against her hips, "I saw Ethan walk past my room and he looked—off. So I followed him and ended up in that room and he just grabbed the handsaw before I could stop him. Now—do you want to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

The other three exchanged worried looks, no one knowing what story they could spin to push her off the trail to the supernatural.

Georgie rolled her eyes, "Oh my god guys, I know—okay? I know all about werewolves and banshees," she gestured to Lydia, "About all of that stuff. Including Scott and Derek and Isaac and the Argent hunting express."

They all gaped at her, Stiles the most, "How..."

Georgie sighed, "Let's just say I ran into someone like them once. Years ago. But I think we've got more pressing matters at hand here right now."

* * *

Jessie barged into Scott and Stiles' room but the room was empty. "Scott?" She sighed, "Where are you?"

* * *

"You shouldn't be here," Derek told her, "You should have left while I was out."

"Why would I do that?" Marissa asked him, kneeling by his knees as he leaned against them.

"Because you're only in danger with me," He whispered. "Everyone around me—everyone gets hurt."

"We've been here before, Derek," Marissa told him quietly.

"I'm so sorry," Derek swore to her. "I never meant to drag you back into all of this. I should have just left you alone—like you wanted."

"You're right—I wanted that," Marissa agreed with him. "But once you were gone, I just—I just missed you. All the time."

"Being together isn't worth endangering your life, Marissa," Derek reasoned with her. "You could be killed because of me."

"Those are the kinds of risks people take for love," Marissa revealed to him. "And I love you, Derek. I love you, I love you so much, and I never should have made you leave my apartment that day." As she said this, there was a catch in her throat, her eyes welling up with emotion at her revelation.

"You were right to want me out of life," Derek assured her, unconsciously leaned closer to her as she did the same, reaching up to catch a tear that fell down her cheek. "You're right to want a normal life without me. You deserve that."

"It's too late for that now," she sighed. "I want you—and everything that comes with you. I love you."

"I love you so much," Derek whispered to her just as his lips came crashing down upon hers.

* * *

"So you've known everything this whole time?" Stiles asked Georgie almost accusingly, "About werewolves and the sacrifices."

"I put the pieces together after Jessie and I found Kyle's body," Georgie admitted.

Stiles paused, remembering something, "What about your sister? I walked in on her talking to Deaton about something they sure didn't want me to overhear."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Georgie admitted "My sister was talking to the town vet?"

"Does she know about werewolves too?" Allison asked her.

Georgie nodded, "Yeah but my sister warned me away from people like that. Said they only bring trouble. I highly doubt she would even dip her toe into the supernatural world. She's just an ordinary shop owner now."

"What kind of shop?" Stiles asked.

Georgie surveyed him with confusion, "Gardening—tools, seeds, herbs, flowers. Stuff like that."

"Getting slightly off topic, aren't we?" Allison asked.

Lydia started walking away from the group, toward the stairs, hearing what sounded like a woman crying. Allison saw her, "Lydia? What are you hearing now?"

"A woman. She's crying." Lydia answered.

Lydia heard a rush of wind that wasn't really there—she didn't feel it. The woman's crying only subdued to sniffing, "It's all my fault. I did this to myself. I drove him away. He didn't deserve to be married to someone like me."

"A woman's crying. Saying she drove her husband away," Lydia told the group.

"He doesn't want me anymore—Ren doesn't want me anymore. Not after I hurt Tanya. Oh—my baby, how could I hurt my baby?"

"She hurt her baby and now her husband is leaving her," Lydia continued, "It's really... windy."

"Windy?" Allison repeated, "Like she's outside?"

"Focus, Lydia," Stiles asked her, "What is she going to do? Whatever's going on with her may be happening in the same place. That's the connection, right?"

"What do you mean?" Georgie asked him.

"Lydia heard a couple shoot themselves in room 217 and then Ethan tries to saw himself in half in the same room," Stiles explained, "So wherever this suicide happened, there's probably another one happening in the same place."

"She's outside," Lydia caught on, "Why would she need to be outside?"

She heard something clink, "I don't deserve his ring." Lydia tired to listen for the ring to fall but she didn't. "Oh my god, she's on a higher floor. She's going to jump."

"I'm so sorry Ren—I'm so sorry Tanya," the woman whispered. "You're both better off without me."

"Someone else is going to jump," Lydia gasped.

"Someone who drove their love away," Stiles guessed, "Who?"

"Isaac felt that way after Jessie broke up with him last year," Lydia realized.

"He's going to jump," Georgie summed up.

"Come on!" Stiles shouted, racing up the stairs toward where Jessie and Isaac were staying.

They turned down a hallway and stopped short at the sight that greeted them. Above them on the roof, Isaac stood, his arms dangling at his sides. All he had to do was let go and jump and he'd fall to his death. Jessie stood behind him, "Isaac get back from there! You don't have to do this!"

"Listen to her Isaac!" Stiles backed her up from below.

"It's all my fault," Isaac muttered, "Everything's my fault. They all left because of me."

"Who, Isaac?" Jessie asked him, her eyes watering at how helpless he sounded.

"My dad died... chasing after me when I left," Isaac cried, "Derek died coming after me when Scott and I.. went to meet Deucalion. Jessie left me when I became a killer—a monster."

"You're not a monster Isaac," Jessie urged him. "Please don't do this. Think about what you're doing."

"I didn't deserve Derek taking me in," Isaac clenched his eyes shut briefly. "I didn't deserve for Jessie to love me. I'm still a killer—still a monster. They'd all be better off without me."

"No we wouldn't," Jessie yelled. "No—that's not true. I still love you, Isaac, I do. Whatever problems we have, we can work them out—together. But you have to get away from that ledge. Please."

"Okay, we have to snap him out of this," Stiles told the others. "What happened to Ethan to snap him out of his suicidal tendencies?"

"Getting pushed into the space heater," Allison answered him.

"Heat," Stiles realized, "That's gotta be it."

"So we need something hot," Georgie thought out loud. "Like fire."

"On the bus," Lydia suddenly chipped in, "They'll have emergency road flares. They have their own oxidizers."

"Go!" Allison shouted, pushing Stiles back as he and Georgie raced to get the road flares.

Jessie was reduced to tears just as Isaac began shoveling his feet forward. She rushed forward and grabbed his arms, holding him to her so he couldn't fall, "No! You're not doing this. You're not doing this to me."

"Let me go, just let me go," Isaac whispered painfully.

"Not a chance in hell," Jessie swore to him.

"I got them!" Stiles shouted as he and Georgie came back up the stairs. He held one of them out, "What do I do?"

"The cap, it's like a match," Lydia explained.

Stiles yanked the cap off and started striking the flare stick against the cap.

"Stiles!" Georgie shouted.

"Yeah, I'm trying," Stiles snapped at her, striking the stick against the cap again and it lit up in red flame.

He ran forward and tossed it up. Jessie was able to catch it but Isaac was stronger than her and starting to walk forward even with her grip on him. So she pulled a move and jumped, pushing her legs into the back of Isaac's knees so they gave under their shared weight. She grunted as they fell and started sliding off the roof's shingles. But she held the flare and pressed the flame to Isaac's skin, causing the werewolf to howl out in pain, his eyes glowing yellow briefly before receding back into their normal color.

A frown took over Isaac's face, in confusion and fright before he realized he and Jessie were falling and was able to turn and wrap his arms around her so they fell on his back on the ground in front of Stiles and the other girls. He groaned from the impact and her weight but helped her up and checked that she was okay first. "What happened?"

"It's a long story," Jessie snapped, pulling him away from the railing so he stood by the wall.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into her neck, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Whatever I did—I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay," Jessie whispered, kissing his lips. The couple kissed until she suddenly broke away, "Scott."

"What?" Isaac asked, disheartened by her sudden departure.

"Scott's in trouble," Jessie breathed, grabbing his hand and racing for the stairs. The group followed closely behind her until they came to stand by the bus, seeing a figure standing with a lit up flare in his grasp.

Jessie let go of Isaac's hand and walked around to face Scott. He was dripping wet, staring vacantly and hopelessly at the pavement with the flare held up in his left hand.

Jessie looked around, noticing the puddle of wetness around Scott's feet and a red tub of gasoline laid empty next to him, realizing Scott's plan, "Scott... what are you doing?"

"There's no hope," Scott muttered.

"What do you mean, Scott?" Allison asked him from behind Jessie. "There's always hope."

"Not for me," Scott answered with a sense of mourning in his tone. "Not for Derek."

Jessie swallowed the lump in her throat, "Derek wasn't your fault. You know that, Scott, I know you do."

"Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse," Scott continued. "People keep getting hurt—People keep getting killed."

"Scott, listen to me, okay?" Stiles urged him, coming to stand next to Jessie in front of the group. "This isn't you, all right? This is someone inside your head telling you to do this."

"What if it isn't?" Scott asked him, shivering in the cold of the night. "What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?"

* * *

Marissa smiled into Derek's chest, letting the lone sheet covering their bodies fall a little to peer at his wounds, watching them heal smoothly under her gentle touch.

* * *

"It all started that night," Scott's teeth chattered in the emotion and coldness, "the night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that? You and me, we were—we were—we were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse... we weren't important."

Jessie felt tears spill over her eyes, "Scott..."

"Maybe I should just be no one again," Scott suggested. "No one at all."

"Scott, you were never no one," Jessie told him. "You were always important."

"Listen to us, Scott," Stiles supported, the weight of the situation fall on their shoulders. "You're not no one. Okay? You're someone."

"You're our best friend," Jessie whimpered.

"Scott, you're my brother," Stiles breathed, a tear falling from his eye. He and Scott stared at each other.

Stiles took a step forward, into the puddle of gasoline. Jessie's hand shot out to grab his but he didn't let her pull him back. He looked back at her solemnly. Jessie looked into his eyes, seeing the conviction and resignation and seriousness in them all wrapped up in swirling emotion. Jessie understood. They understood each other.

Jessie took a slow, stuttering step into the puddle besides Stiles.

Isaac gasped, shooting forward to stop her but both Georgie and Lydia grabbed his arms, stopping his movement.

Stiles and Jessie joined hands. Stiles wrapped his hand around Scott's grip on the flare while Jessie took Scott's other hand in her free one. "So—so if you're gonna do this—then you're gonna have to take us with you"

"We're in this together," Jessie breathed, "From beginning—to end."

Stiles gripped the top of the flare, yanking it from Scott's hand and flinging it away from them onto a dry piece of pavement. Scott gasped, panting in fright of what he was about to do. And the depression that still weighed him down.

Relief overwhelmed Jessie as she flung her arms around Scott's neck. He wrapped his arms around her back, holding him to her tightly. Stiles joined in, wrapping his arms around both of them, just happy they were all okay.

Lydia stared off at the flare, noticing the night wind blow on it gently, causing it to roll back toward the pool of gasoline, "No!"

She rushed forward, Isaac, Allison and Georgie following her as they all pushed the trio out of the gasoline just as the flare caused an explosion of fire.

Lydia peered back behind them, feeling the heat on her face. In the pit of the fire she saw a heavily cloaked figure reach out to them, screeching filling her ears as her eyes enveloped the sight of the ugly scarred and disfigured face of the Darach.

* * *

Coach Finstock walked into the bus with his cross country kids behind him and stopped short when he saw Allison and Lydia sleeping side by side on one seat with Stiles and Georgie in the seat next to them and Scott sleeping in the seat in front of them, and Jessie sleeping curled up with Isaac in front of Scott. Upon the noise of Coach entering and clearing his throat awkwardly, they all sheepishly woke up.

"I don't want to know," Coach told them, waving his hands definitely. "I really don't want to know, but in case you missed the announcement, the meet's canceled, so we're heading home. Pack it in." He waved for the other students to enter the bus, "Pack it in!"

Scott, Stiles, Isaac and Jessie all gaped at Ethan as he plopped into the seat next to Scott, "I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life," he spoke to Scott when he said this.

"Actually," Stiles intervened, "Jessie saved your life—but not that it matters that much. It's just—it's a minor detail."

Ethan ignored him, "So I'm gonna give you something... we're pretty sure Derek's still alive."

Scott gaped at him even more and Jessie could feel a sense of hope fill her up at Ethan's words. There must be hope now.

But Ethan continued on, "But he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen. Either he joins our pack..."

"And kills his betas," Jessie growled, "Not an option."

"Or Kali goes after him, and we kill him," Ethan finished explaining. "That's the way it works."

"You know," Stiles began as Ethan stood up to leave, "Your little code of ethics there is sort of barbaric. Just fyi."

Coach made to walk past them when Lydia noticed something. There was a light purple stain on his white shirt where his whistle rested. Coach began to speak to Ethan, "Hey, Ethan, I want to-"

"Coach, can I see your whistle for a second?" Lydia rushed out, already reaching for it. The Coach was flabbergasted but too flustered to say anything but, "I'm gonna need that back."

Lydia sat in her seat and pulled the whistle to her lips, covering the action with her hands as she lightly blew into it. The others watched as she pulled her hand back to reveal purple dust in her palm, "Wolfsbane."

"Isn't that poisonous for werewolves?" Georgie asked from her seat next to Stiles.

"Yes," Stiles answered her, "So every time Coach blew the whistle on the bus, Scott, Isaac and Ethan-"

"We inhaled it," Scott realized.

"You were all poisoned by it," Allison elaborated.

"That's how the Darach got into your heads," Jessie summarized.

Stiles ripped the whistle from Lydia's hand and reached over Georgie's head to open the bus window and throw the whistle outside just as the bus took off, hearing Coach shout at him, "Stilinski!"

* * *

Melissa McCall wheeled her shopping cart down the dairy aisle when her cart smashed into someone else's. The single mother gasped and looked up to see a handsome man wielding the cart she crashed into, "Oh my god—I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"It's quite all right," the man laughed, "No harm done."

"I wasn't paying much attention," Melissa explained.

The guy shrugged nonchalantly, speaking in a thick but understandable Irish or Scottish accent, "There are worse things that could happen than being bumped into by a beautiful woman at the super market."

Melissa's tan skin blushed delicately as she brushed a curl behind her ear.

"I'm Gavin," the man introduced himself, offering his hand to her, "McGarretty. I just moved in to take over the cemetery."

Melissa took his hand, "Melissa McCall, nice to meet you."

* * *

"So..." Stiles began awkwardly, sitting closely next to Georgie almost unconsciously, "Are you okay-"

"Last night was a one time thing, Stiles," Georgie interrupted. "I can't involve myself in this supernatural stuff."

"You're okay though?" Stiles asked for confirmation. "Ethan didn't hurt you before we got there right?"

Georgie shook her head, "No I'm fine. It's just that... the last time I got tangled up in this kind of stuff... I almost got killed because of it. I can't do that again—I can't do that to Sonia again."

"I get that, Georgie, I do," Stiles told her sincerely. "But if you did... involve yourself with us. I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Georgie stared into his eyes, seeing the conviction and tenderness in them, directed at her. She spent most of her early school years wanted this particular boy to look at her this particular way. But now it was all complicated by werewolves and serial killings. It was risky to get herself embedded in this mess. She didn't know if it was worth it.

But something in Stile's eyes told her he meant it when he said he wouldn't let anything happen to her. And now, staring into his eyes with him staring back into hers, she smiled just slightly at the thought of this boy devoted any attention to her.

* * *

Chris Argent stalked down the hallway before pushing an already ajar door open to be met by the sight of his father sitting in a wheelchair facing the window. The old man's croaking voice greeted him, "Twice in one month." Wrinkled, shaking hands grasped the wheels of the chair to twist it around, revealing Gerard's face, his mouth stained with black goo slipping out of his nose, "Should I be flattered?"

"In 1977," Chris began in a deadpan yet angrily calm tone, "My Uncle Alexander Argent checked into the Glen Capri motel for a one-night stay. In room 217, he used a shotgun to blow out the back of his skull. The autopsy report noted an unusual animal bite in his side."

Gerard dabbed under his nose with a tissue, "If you already have all the information, what do you want from me?"

"I want to know the Alpha that bit him," Chris demanded, "I want his name."

Gerard smirked, "Deucalion."


	12. Healers

"That'll be $12.65," the cashier at the Iron Wok recited with a smile.

Jessie handed her the cash and waited for her change, grabbing it with a smile and then going to stand with Scott while they waited for their food.

Scott shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Jessie rose her eyebrows at him, "Who says I wanted to talk about anything?"

Scott gave her a look, "Come on, Jessie, you're my best friend. I know when you want to talk. That paired with the fact that you hate Chinese food and coming here with me instead of going to Subway was your idea—kind of gave it away."

The corners of her lips quirked in slight affection, surprised and touched that Scott knew her so well. She sighed when he continued to patiently watch her, waiting for her to speak up, "Fine. You're right. I'm worried about Isaac."

"This conversation feels familiar," Scott commented.

Jessie nodded, "He's different. And not the different he was when he joined Derek at first. He's not just cocky and trigger happy. He's... just so ready to kill. Like it's the only solution. Without irrefutable proof. I've been thinking about it since we found Kyle's body."

"Well, he was consumed with revenge," Scott theorized. "He's not the only one."

"You mean Peter who went around killing people and tried to make you do the same?" Jessie posed for him sardonically, "Or Derek who tried to kill Lydia and then she turned out to be innocent?"

Scott lightly gaped in the air, not really having anything to say against her.

"Vengeance isn't the righteous path, Scott," Jessie told him wisely. "But it seems to be the one everyone's on. Isaac, Cora, Derek. Everyone is all, attack first, ask questions never. And that almost got Derek killed. I mean—if he changes so easily under pressure like this... how am I supposed to know that he'll still be my Isaac when this is all over?"

"Jessie... none of us are who we were before this all started," Scott told her. "We've all changed and grown. In all sorts of different ways."

"What if we're just too different now?" Jessie asked fearfully. "I mean—you're right. We've all changed. He's changed. I've changed. We're different people now. I just... I just don't think our relationship can survive the changes."

"Are you..." Scott trailed off, noticing the heaviness in his best friend's words, "Are you saying you want to break up with Isaac?"

"I don't want to..." Jessie denied. "But I think that's what it'll come to. Sooner or later. I don't think we were built to last forever."

Scott sighed, not wanting to say he agreed. Not wanting to acknowledge all the little signs of the couple drifting apart that he'd noticed over the past few weeks. Someone had to have a happy ending—someone had to make it. And in his eyes, more than anyone, Jessie deserved to be that someone.

But right now there was really nothing he could do for her but be there as he slipped his hand into hers and squeezed her fingers in gentle comfort. She smiled weakly at him and squeezed his hand back.

* * *

"So you were the one who stole the last cupcake?" Stiles asked Georgie with mock accusation in his tone, a smile on his lips. "I got timeout for like—ten minutes for that!"

Georgie giggled next to him on the playground swing, "Sorry. Sonia was stricter, she would've grounded me. It was a sacrifice that had to be made."

Stiles reached out his hand from his swing to swipe at her, lightly pushing her swing sideways as the two laughed.

"I'm sorry!" Georgie apologized, still laughing.

"I forgive you," Stiles grinned.

"And besides, you were literally trying to explain to your mom that if you had taken it, it would be justice because of something about your blood sugar being low and needing to eat all your food for the kids in Africa or something," Georgie laughed at the memory.

Stile rose his hands in the air, "It was a good spin on things—it made sense."

"Yeah, it was creative, I'll give you that," Georgie allowed.

The two got quiet after their giggles subsided, lightly swinging in their seats. Georgie's hands gripped the chains as she stared down at the bark under her feet, "Why'd you ask me to meet you here, Stiles? To reminisce?"

Stiles was quiet as her answer at first, not really knowing what he was feeling or how to even articulate it. "I don't know... I guess I wanted to keep you around... while also respecting your choice to stay out of the things that's been happening."

"I don't mean to sound indifferent or rude," Georgie explained. "I'm just curious as to why. Why do you want to keep me around? Why now?"

Stiles sighed, lightly shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know. Ever since we crossed paths again I've just wanted to make sure you're okay."

Georgie wiped her hands on the top of her jean-clad thighs and stood up from the swing, "So you just wanna protect me."

Stiles stood, "No—I mean yeah—not just... more than that."

Georgie faced him, trying not to smile at his nervousness as she felt the same emotion in the pit of her stomach, "More than that?"

"Yeah," Stiles swallowed, "More than that. I've just wanted..."

It was quiet and sweet when Georgie lifted herself up on her toes to instinctively press her lips to Stiles. The kiss was chaste and short as she pulled away a moment later.

"What was that for?" Stiles breathed in surprise.

"Because I wanted to," Georgie blushed. "Should I not have?"

Stiles answered by pressing his lips back onto hers.

* * *

Melissa McCall rushed into action as a bloody woman was wheeled into the crowded hospital, "Okay, keep pressure on it." She pressed her gloved hands on her torso as she led the EMTs down the hall where they were supposed to drop her off, "The doctor's on his way—and does anyone know where Dr. Hansen is?"

Melissa sighed as the EMTs and woman disappeared, leaving no shortage of wounded people in the ER. She wiped at her forehead as she turned to see her son and his best friend holding takeout in their hands, "Oh, thank God."

Scott and Jessie smiled as Melissa swiped the food from her son's hands, "I'm starving," and set in on her counter, hesitating. "Oh, I'm sorry," she faced Scott with a smile, "I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing me dinner," She hugged him.

Scott smiled, nonplussed, "Is everything okay?"

"Except for half the accident victims in a ten car pile-up being rerouted here from downtown, and the E.R. attending not answering any of his pages, yeah, I'm okay," Melissa lightly ranted.

"What does not answering pages mean?" Scott asked.

"Where's my dad?" Jessie asked just after him.

"It means that nobody can find him, so now we have to wait for the on call to get here," Melissa said, before giving Jessie a baffled look, "Don't you know where your father is? He called saying he was on his way after checking in with you."

Jessie shook his head, feeling dread pool in her stomach, "He never called me, I got dinner for him too," she held up her bag of Chinese food.

"He probably just forgot," Scott told her just a woman, crying in pain came up to Melissa.

"Excuse me, can I, kind of, please have something for the pain?"

"Okay, I'm sorry," Melissa gently held the woman, leading her to a chair, "I know. But, actually, giving you something could complicate things, so we really just need to wait for the doctors. Okay?" Melissa sat the woman down before turning to the nurses station, asking the other nurse on the phone, "How much longer on Dr. Hansen?"

"Ten minutes," she answered.

"See?" Melissa faced Jessie, "He's fine. He'll be here soon."

Jessie sighed in relief.

Scott went to sit next to the woman on the chair, Jessie sitting next to him. Scott was quiet when he spoke to her, "Uh, you know, I think that I read online that sometimes human contact can help with pain."

The woman whimpered, nodding her head, desperate for anything to help. Scott slowly pressed his hand over hers on her lap, blackness receding into his veins as he took her pain away, all that he could. The woman's grimace suddenly dropped as she looked at him with shock and gratitude, a smile playing on her lips.

"I'm going to drop off the food in my dad's office," Jessie told Scott. "I have a bad feeling about him... I'll text you when I'm done."

"Okay," Scott agreed quietly as she raced down the hallway.

"Someone!" A voice broke out suddenly, "Someone help me!"

Scott turned to see Ethan holding a doubled over Danny, "I need help!"

* * *

Jessie set the takeout on her father's desk as she glanced around his office. It wasn't a big office, just outside the ER. His desk was small and brown covered in medical papers and notes. Jessie noticed a family picture in the corner. They all sat on a pic nic table back at their old park. It was just before Baako left for Africa. They were all smiling and happy. Everything was perfect back then. Back when she was none the wiser to her fate and to her past—to her truth.

She wished she could go back to that. But at the same time she didn't.

Jessie let her eyes trail over the picture, determined not to dwell on the past. But her eyes fell on something very different. A small patch of green leaves with white flowers, "Mistletoe... why do you have mistletoe?"

She avoided picking it up in case it too affected her vampire side. Wolfsbane and mountain ash didn't, but mistletoe might. Either way it was better to be safe than to be sorry.

Finding nothing else remotely useful, Jessie made her way out of the office when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to see her dad's name flashing on the screen. She read the text message with furrowed eyebrows and confusion embedded in her face.

_Do not worry about me. Worry about yourself. I have faith in you._

She had no idea what he meant. But she knew that whenever he told her not to worry, that was when she should worry. He told her not to worry right before he got laid off. He told her not to worry before her mother's calls became few and far between. So she knew now that she had something to worry about.

She had gotten back to the front of the hospital when she saw Scott walking outside to his bike with Ethan behind him. She jogged to keep up, coming to stand right next to Scott while Ethan was standing in front of him, hands raised in surrender as he spoke defensively, "I know you're not gonna believe me, but I didn't do anything."

"What are you talking about?" Jessie asked.

Scott sighed and looked at her, solemn, "After you left he came in with Danny—his lungs were collapsing and he threw up mistletoe."

"You poisoned Danny?" Jessie accused Ethan.

"I didn't do anything to him!" Ethan denied.

"How are we supposed to believe that?" Jessie raised her voice, trying to reign in her growing temper. "As soon as you got here you and your brother went for Danny and Lydia like targets!"

"Because we knew one of them was gonna be important to you," Ethan revealed quietly. "And now we know it's Lydia."

"They're both important," Jessie argued as Scott noticed swerving lights behind Ethan.

Scott tapped her shoulder to bring her attention to the car swerving into the parking lot at a leisurely pace, headlights nearly blinding them from seeing the driver.

Jessie's breath caught in her throat, "That's my dad's car..."

The car careened into a parked vehicle, startling the teens. Jessie's speed got her to the car as they all sprinted to see if her father was okay. But as she ripped the car door open she was met with the sight of an empty drivers seat. "Dad...?"

"Jessie, look," Scott said, picking up a dead moth that had laid dead on the seat.

"Scott?" Jessie gained her best friend's attention, her eyes glazing over with tears. Scott looked at her, mouth open to try and say something comforting, but nothing came to mind. His hand reached out to brush a fallen tear away as she asked, "Did they take my dad?"

* * *

"Two doctors..." Scott tried to explain to Stiles' dad, his arm around Jessie's shoulders as she tried desperately to hold back her tears.

"Hang on, hang on," The Sheriff waved his hand for him to stop talking, his face showing confusion, "They were both in the car?"

Stiles stood on Jessie's other side, Scott having called him, and the boy rushed right over to help his friends, "No, dad, they're trying to tell you that it was two separate kidnappings, okay? Two doctors, both gone."

"So whose car is this?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, gesturing to the vehicle in question.

"My dad's..." Jessie whispered, causing the Sheriff and Melissa to soften.

Melissa took over the explanation from there, "Dr. Hansen is the on-call—the ER attending is the one that never made it in."

"Let me just focus on getting your story first, all right?" The Sheriff asked her, to which she nodded. The Sheriff looked at the three friends, "Guys, give us a minute..."

Scott nodded for them as he and Stiles led Jessie away from the adults and away from her father's empty car.

"These are definitely sacrifices, right?" Scott asked Stiles.

"Yeah, the Healers," Stiles answered.

"What about Danny?" Jessie asked. "Someone fed him mistletoe. But he doesn't fit the group."

Stiles nodded, concentrating, trying to figure out all the clues when he caught sight of his dad taking a phone call. He pointed it out to Scott, "Can you hear that?"

Scott turned toward the Sheriff and his mom, listening in closely before looking to his friends with wide eyes, "They found a body."

"Whose body?" Jessie asked immediately, watching Scott's forlorn and uncertain look. "Scott, whose body did they find?"

Scott opened his mouth to tell her that he didn't know. But during her questions, Stiles noticed somebody in the growing crowd behind them. He stepped away from his friends, toward the figure all dressed in black. A thin black hoodie hid her features but he knew it was the same woman he noticed at the pool that night. And the same one Peter and Cora told them about at the mall. He knew that she had to be. And she had something to do with all of this.

She donned black leather gloves on her hands, and her breath came out in misty cold puffs as she rose a finger to her invisible lips—a signal for him to be quiet. Or to keep a secret. But what secret?

Before Stiles could even think about approaching her, she had started to make her exit. This time, she didn't twist on her feet and run away like a careful choreographed stage exit. She turned on her heel and calmly walked away from the growing crowd of curious onlookers, a trail of black smoke lifting of her body until particle by particle she disappeared into the dark chaotic night.

"Guys..." Stiles gulped, "Did you see that-" he turned to look at them, seeing by their wide eyes and slightly agape mouths that they had seen exactly what he had seen, and were shocked by the exchange.

* * *

Melissa shifted in her queen sized bed as she started to wake up to a sunlight filled room. Her eyes caught sight of a figure sitting in the chair next to her closet, causing her to gasp and jump slightly in her bed, only to realize that it was her son. Isaac slept soundly on the floor in front of her dresser, both of them slightly drooling.

"Really, boys?" Melissa asked almost to herself, before repeating louder, "Boys!"

The werewolves started in their sleeping positions, immediately waking up on alert and standing to attention, looking around the room for the noise until their eyes fell on Melissa's un-impressed expression, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, we were watching over you," Isaac mumbled.

"We wanted to make sure you weren't the third sacrifice," Scott explained.

Melissa nodded idly, "But both of you were asleep."

Both boys adopted deer in headlights expressions. Scott pointed to Isaac, "You were on watch last."

"No, you were on watch last," Isaac denied.

Scott stared at him, shaking his head with a look of incredulity on his face, "No."

Isaac realized his wrong, "I might've been on watch last."

"My heroes," Melissa sarcastically replied, before a thought occurred to her. "Wait, didn't you say that they were all doctors? I mean—I haven't had any MD recently attached to the end of my name, so I think I'm in the clear."

"Yeah, but it could just come under any kind of healer, mom, and you were definitely a healer last night," Scott reasoned with her.

Melissa was touched by the note of pride in her son's voice but still held onto her parenting sternness, "Yeah, well, I'm not gonna be anyone's human sacrifice today, so both you get your butts to school. Besides, I have a lunch date today so I think I'll be okay."

"Lunch date?" Scott asked. "With who?"

"Not that you need to concern yourself with it," Melissa began, "but it's this nice man that I met at the store a little while ago. He just moved into town to take over the cemetery..." Melissa trailed off, just realizing that Isaac was in their company, "Oh, Isaac, I'm-"

"It's all right," Isaac told her. "Really, I'm just glad not to work there anymore. I don't care what happens to it."

"Should you really be going on a date right now?" Scott pointed out to his mother.

She gave him a contemptuous stare, "And why shouldn't I?"

Scott took on an awkward face, "Well, shouldn't I meet him first?"

Melissa snorted, "I do not need you screening my dates."

"Well the last date you went on was with a homicidal werewolf, so..." Scott trailed off.

Melissa rolled her eyes with a frown, "Whatever kid—you're not getting out of school. Beat it."

* * *

Georgie rubbed her tired eyes as she stumbled downstairs to find some breakfast to eat. She stared at her phone, encasing a text from Stiles.

_Sorry I had to run out on you last night. I haven't seen you in school yet—are you okay?_

She decided not to answer until she was more awake. But when she almost got to the kitchen she heard her sister on the phone. Her voice was whispery but still clear and earnest, "I will find you, I promise."

Georgie didn't know who she was talking to. But her sister had been acting strange for weeks now. There had to be something else going on. And slowly Georgie began to suspect that her sister wasn't as eradicated from the supernatural world as she'd been led to believe.

"But I'm weak—I haven't practiced in years," Sonia reasoned sadly. "You need to call the boy-wolf."

* * *

"Good morning," Miss Blake chirped from the front of the chemistry classroom, awkward and defensively out of her element, "As you all know Mr. Harris is still missing—I mean sick... Anyway, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place." She hoped the joke would lighten the atmosphere but the ever-nervous English teacher's hopes were dashed. "Okay, so let's get started, shall we?"

"Hey," Stiles whispered to Scott sitting next to him at their lab station. "My dad said that the ER Attending wasn't strangled but did die from asphyxiation. They just don't know how."

"So do you think that Jessie's dad is still alive?" Scott asked hopeful. He didn't want his best friend to go through losing one of her parents when she tried so hard to protect them all.

"I don't know..." Stiles struggled, "But, Scott, there's got to be at least 20 other doctors in that hospital—at least, you know? Any one of them could be next."

Scott's phone vibrated in his pocket. He quickly took it out, seeing his boss's name flash on the screen, "Hey, doc, sorry I'm in class right now. Can I call you back later?"

Solemnly Deaton answered him, "Unfortunately, no. I honestly thought I might never have to burden you like this, but I'm afraid, at the moment, you're my only hope."

A wild range of dangerous scenarios ran through Scott's head in the seconds Deaton took to sigh and continue, "I'm gong to be taken. I need you to find me."

The phone cut out as Scott's eyes widened in fear, "Doc, doc, doc, doc, what's happening?"

But there was no answer.

* * *

"It's got to be that witch," Jessie theorized as Stiles drove her and Scott to the vet's office in his jeep.

"Witch?" Stiles asked, "There's witches now too? What's next—goblins?"

Jessie rolled her eyes in the back seat, "I looked up that woman we saw at the hospital. She disappeared using smoke as a way of travel. That's what witches do—they travel using natural pathways—flowing water, blowing wind, rising smoke, so on and so forth."

"So the woman that's been showing up at all the places sacrifices either go missing or are found dead—is a witch?" Scott summarized.

"Yes," Jessie answered. "But that doesn't mean she's the Darach."

Stiles parked quickly as they all piled out and into the vets office to see Stiles' dad and his deputy Tara already in the joint.

The Sheriff sighed upon the sight of Deaton's two employees, "I'm sorry. Your boss's car is still here, and the back door was wide open."

Scott and Jessie sunk into the waiting area chairs together.

"I need you to tell me everything," Stiles' dad asked them seriously.

* * *

"All right," Sheriff Stilinski put a comforting hand on Scott's shoulder, he and Jessie leaving against one of the tables in the back room with Stiles standing next to Jessie with a hand inside hers for comfort. "Right now, the best thing you can do is go back to school."

"Sheriff," Jessie sighed, a small catch in her voice, "My dad and my boss have gone missing in the past 12 hours. How am I supposed to concentrate on school?"

Sheriff Stilinski sighed, "Then go home. Rest. Be with your brother. Maybe call your mother. Just keep a clear head, Jessie."

As the Sheriff made his way back to the front with Tara, Scott jerked his head toward the cat clinic and led Jessie and Stiles inside for privacy.

"We have to tell him," Scott told his best friend almost hesitantly.

"You mean, like, tell him, or tell him something else that isn't telling him what I think you want to tell him?" Stiles asked him, emotions bubbling under the surface.

"You know what I mean," Scott sighed forlorn.

"You remember how your mom reacted?" Stiles pointed out. "She didn't look you in the eye for, like, a week."

"And she got over it," Scott argued, "and—and it actually made us closer."

"I don't know, dude," Stiles sighed frustratedly. "I mean, look at him," he gestured to his father through the window, the man rubbing his hand down his face in frustration. "Come one, he's completely overwhelmed as it is."

"Because he has no clue what's really behind all these sacrifices," Jessie explained.

"He's got people dying in his town, the town that he's supposed to protect," Scott backed her up. "And it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening."

"He's gonna know sooner or later," Jessie wrung her hands together. "It's up to you if it comes from us or from something bad happening," her eyes averted to the floor, flashing back to her family being kidnapped and watching her and her werewolf friends battle the kanima.

"Yeah," Stiles admitted, "But is now really the right time?"

"What if not telling him now gets someone else killed?" Scott asked him seriously.

Stiles stared at him, "What if telling him gets him killed, huh?"

Silence met his statement and they knew what he was worried about.

"I mean, okay, look," Stiles breathed through his nose, "I get that Deaton's been like a father to you—I get that, okay? And Jessie I know you're dad's out there somewhere. But—but, guys, this is my father—I—I can't—I can't lose both of my parents, all right?" He sighed deeply in his chest, "Not both of them."

Scott and Jessie stared at their best friend. Jessie came to stand in front of Stiles, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close, "You're right."

Stiles wrapped his arms around her back, "No, I'm not." He locked eyes with Scott over her shoulders, "I'm not right." He pulled Jessie from him and put his hands on her shoulders, looking at her, "I'll tell him."

"We'll help you," Jessie whispered back.

The trio made their way out of the cat clinic, hearing a feminine voice talking to the Sheriff, "Please, whatever you need," they saw Ms. Morrell speaking to Stilinski and Tara, "however you can help find my brother."

Stiles and Scott and Jessie all shared an incredulous look, Stiles mouthing the word 'brother' like a question.

The police excused themselves from the counselor and French teacher and she walked straight to the teens, "Okay, listen closely, all of you. No sheriff, deputy, or Detective is going to be able to find him."

"You don't have to ask us for help," Scott told her sincerely.

"Actually, I'm trying to help you," Ms. Morrell corrected him, "Because, if you're going to find my brother, then you need to use the one person who might actually have an ability to seek out the supernatural."

"Someone who can hone the ability better than a vampire," Jessie realized.

"Lydia," Stiles sighed.


	13. Current

Stiles gallivanted through the locker room in a last ditch effort to find Lydia, knowing that couples liked to hook up in Coach Finstock's office. When he arrived, he saw Cora forcefully holding Lydia's arm, the strawberry blonde demanding that the she-wolf let go.

"Let go," Stiles piped in.

* * *

Scott showed his text from Stiles saying that he'd found Lydia to Jessie. "That's good. He found her. He can get her to find Deaton and my dad."

"Where's Isaac and Baako?" Scott asked Jessie once they rounded a corner.

"They're with Derek," Jessie replied distractedly, her sensitive ears honing in on a tapping. Or a.. ticking. Ticking like a slightly fast clock hand. Ticking like a tapping—a rhythm.

"Do you hear that?" Jessie turned to her friend so see by his confused face that he did, in fact, hear it too.

* * *

Stiles shouldered his backpack and searched his contacts for Georgie's name on his phone. She hadn't texted him back. And with everything going on he was starting to worry.

"Why are you playing with your phone at a time like this?" Cora snapped at him as they entered another branch building of the school from the outdoor hallway.

"Shut up, Cora," Stiles snapped back at her, pressing the call button on his phone and listening to it ring.

"Hey Stiles-" Georgie's voice started to answer.

"Oh my god," Stiles exclaimed, interrupting her, "Where have you been—I've been worried sick-"

"Stiles!" He heard her voice cut him off over the phone and in person. He looked up to see she had just rounded the corner and caught sight of him as she hung up her phone.

Stiles ran to her and enveloped her short stature in his arms, "Why haven't you been in school? Do you have any idea what's been going on?"

"I've heard the chatter in the halls," Georgie hugged him back. "Scott's boss is missing?"

"And Jessie's father," Stiles sighed, pulling away to brush back her bangs.

Georgie gasped, "We have to find them."

"That's what we're trying to do," Stiles told her, "Do you..."

Georgie sighed, "I'm already involved. There's really no backing out for me."

"You don't have to..." Stiles trailed off, wanting more than anything what was best for her.

Georgie shook her head, "You are all my... friends. I have to help you."

"Then let's go," Stiles chirped, intertwining his fingers with hers as he led Cora and Lydia into a classroom. Lydia and Cora sat at a lab table as Stiles fished something out of his backpack. Georgie stood next to him across from the other two girls as he slapped a board onto the table.

"A Ouija board?" Lydia deadpanned.

"Also called a spirit board, and it's worth a shot," Stiles insisted.

"A shot in the dark," Lydia snarked.

Georgie placed her hands flat on the lab table, "Ouija boards can allow even a normal human to communicate with the spirits or someone close to death."

"And how do you know this?" Cora asked her suspiciously.

"I've crossed paths with the supernatural before," Georgie said simply.

"Can we just try this, please?" Stiles asked impatiently. "Let's not forget who this is for. Scott's boss and Jessie's father."

"Oh, wait, should we all do this?" Cora questioned.

"Yeah," Stiles surmised, putting his hands on the side of the glass.

Georgie, Lydia and Cora all followed suit, waiting in silence.

"Where's Dr. Deaton?" Stiles asked slowly.

Stiles, Georgie and Cora all shared tense looks as they stared expectantly at Lydia. The blonde caught their looks and asked them impatiently, "What?"

"Aren't you gonna answer it?" Stiles asked her.

"Oh, I don't know the answer," Lydia flippantly stated. "I thought we were asking some sort of spirit."

"Well, do you know any spirits?" Cora asked in what appeared to be a serious way.

Lydia gave her a look, turning her head toward Stiles, "Is she for real?"

* * *

"Do you know what a metronome is, Scott—Jessica?" Deucalion posed for them, the rhythmic tapping of his cane ceasing upon their arrival into the music room. The Alpha sat on the piano bench, glasses, cane and all, "It's a tool to help you maintain a steady rhythm once you've set the tempo."

Scott slightly held Jessie behind him by her hip, cautious of the werewolf.

"Something tells me the tempo of your life has sped up considerably in the last few hours," Deucalion smirked. "If you'd like, I could help slow it down to a more manageable pace."

"How?" Scott asked.

"By helping you find Deaton," He answered, turning his head to 'look' toward Jessie, "And your father."

* * *

"Okay, these are Deaton's keys for the clinic," Stiles held up a roll of metal keys. "Close you're eyes, and I'm gonna put 'em in your hand, and then we're just gonna try and see if you can feel out for his location. It's called psychometry."

"I'm not a psychic," Lydia quipped sarcastically.

Frustration was clearly bubbling in Stiles' head, a bad combination with the desperation he was feeling lately to stop these sacrifices, "You're SOMETHING!—okay? Just, Lydia, put out your hand, and-"

Lydia dutifully yet not very sincerely closed her eyes and held out her hands. When Stiles dropped them into her hand she moaned, "Hm..."

"What?" Stiles asked eagerly.

"They're cold," was her disappointing answer.

"Lydia, concentrate, please?" Stiles snapped at her. "Trying to save lives here, for the love of God."

Lydia sighed impatiently through her nose, closing her eyes again and holding the keys in her hands. The other three watched her closely, looking for any sign that she knew something. Her eyes fluttered under the skin of her eyelids, "I see—nothing."

"It's because you're not looking the right way," they all heard a voice in the doorway. The group turned to see Emily and her brother Alex standing in the classroom doorway. Emily held out a pencil, "She has to use a different way to channel her powers. She doesn't see things or feel things like a psychic."

"She's hears things described to her like a banshee," Alex explained.

* * *

"Your heart's pounding," Deucalion observed out loud, standing on his feet in front of Scott and Jessie, "But it's not fear. It's anger. I bet I know what you're thinking. Does he have something to do with Deaton's and Dr. Hansen's disappearances?" He held his cane in his hands, outstretched, "Tell you what. If you can take the cane away from me, I'll tell you exactly where they are. Now, what do you think?"

Scott held back a growl as he lunged for the cane. Deucalion easily avoided him, causing Scott to stumble away. Deucalion held one end of his cane and swiped at Scott but Scott ducked out of the way, reaching for the stick as Deucalion held it away from him, pushing the werewolf toward the piano. Scott jumped onto the edge of the piano the propel himself into a back flip, landing in a crouched position. Deucalion kept swiping at him until he landed on the desk in the front of the room. Deucalion paused, taking the red rubber tip off of his cane, revealing a concealed blade. He rose it to slashed at Scott when a hand caught the cane mid-motion.

Jessie stood between Deucalion and Scott, nostrils flaring in anger and eyes glowing a brilliant cobalt blue. "I wouldn't even try."

"Impressive," Deucalion murmured, yanking the cane away and capping it again as Jessie and Scott faced him with glares on their faces. "But you know I'm not the one slashing up innocent people, praying to ancient gods or gathering herbs—or whatever the hell druids are supposed to do."

"Darach," Jessie corrected, "And you can't be it—because it's obviously gunning for you."

Deucalion smirked, "Very clever—the Demi-Cruore strikes again in all her intelligent and powerful glory. You have not disappointed me yet."

Jessie recognized the Latin phrase he used as Scott asked, "Demi-Cruore?"

"Half-blood," Jessie breathed, "What do you know about me?"

Deucalion tapped his cane on the ground in a metronome rhythm as he grinned, "Being the daughter of vampire and the daughter of a hunter set a lot of different plans in motion, my dear. And you have no idea what destiny has planned for you."

Jessie glared at him, wanting straight answers instead of riddles about destiny.

"You both have a tough decision to make, however," Deucalion changed the subject, "Kali is coming for Derek—someone is going to die tonight. Whether it's Derek—or Deaton—or your father—well that's up to you."

"Just tell us where they are," Scott commanded.

"I'll give you a very important clue," Deucalion allowed, "Let the current guide you."

* * *

"Automatic writing?" Lydia asked as Emily held out a pencil for her.

"It's when you're not paying attention that the most important messages come out," Alex answered her.

"And most of the time you won't even realize it's important until you figure out what it means," Emily elaborated.

"So she just puts the pencil to paper..." Cora trailed off, "...and writes?"

"Exactly," Alex nodded, "When she just zones out—blocks everything else out—she can hear the answer and translate it in a way she can interpret—on paper."

"She can hear the answer?" Stiles asked, "Just in the air."

"It's not like you hear me talking right now," Alex explained, "It's different for banshees. It's like a feeling—an emotion—rather than physically hearing something. She can find the supernatural just as easily as she can call them to her."

"Hence the crazy screaming in the middle of the night," Lydia quipped.

"And how you found the body at the pool," Stiles added.

"And how Peter was able to call to you and almost control you when he was dead," Cora realized.

"You have to be careful, though," Emily warned Lydia. "Because you have this kind of ability on the supernatural—any supernatural that knows what they're doing can find ways to control you through it."

"The dreams," Lydia whispered to herself.

"What was that?" Georige asked concerned.

"Nothing," Lydia sighed, grabbing the pencil and putting it to the paper, distractedly dragging it across into lines and lines until the connected and formed patterns and an imaged on the page.

"Lydia, what are you doing?" Stiles asked, "What the hell is that?"

"A tree," Lydia mused as she drew what may have been the thousandth tree she's drawn recently.

"A tr—Lydia, you're supposed to be writing words, like in sentences, something like a location, something that would tell us where they are!" Stiles was really beginning to lose patience, just when someone offered actual answers and help, Lydia had to go and give them another clue after endless clues.

Georgie gripped Stiles' hand in hers, "It might not work like that. They said it just comes out the way she interprets it."

"And she doesn't even know what she's hearing yet," Emily defended.

"She has a lot of practice and control to learn before she masters this stuff," Alex chimed in.

Stiles blew out hot air through his nose.

"Honestly, I don't know why you're even bothering with me anyway," Lydia admitted, "I mean—especially since it's obvious you should be talking to Danny."

"What?" Stiles shot at her, "Why Danny?"

"Because," they heard Scott's voice in the doorway, "He was a target."

"But not a sacrifice," Jessie finished, sharing a look with Alex.

* * *

The bell rang as the group piled out of the classroom and into the crowding hallway. "But isn't Danny still in the hospital?" Cora asked.

"Yeah," Stiles answered, "That's where we're going right now."

"I'll meet you there," Scott told them as he looked down at his phone.

"Why?" Jessie asked. Scott showed her the text he got from Allison— _I think I found something._

Jessie sighed, "Fine—just be quick about it, her clues don't leave us much to go on."

Scott gave her a kiss on the forehead, right over her scar, and walked off.

"Are you coming with us?" Emily asked.

"I don't know—I—my brother needs my help," she held up her own phone that held a text from Baako that he may have found a way to protect Derek from Kali. She pulled her phone away when they read the text, sighing in frustration of being torn in three, save her boss, her father or her friend. "Deucalion said it was gonna be up to us whether my dad, Derek or Deaton die tonight. Baako doesn't even know dad's missing. I don't know what to do."

"We'll all split up once we find out where they are," Alex said, "They'll go get Deaton—you go help Derek—Emily and I will find your dad."

Jessie stared up at Alex with tears in her eyes, "I can't lose my dad—or my brother—I can't..."

"You won't," Alex swore to her, "Go to Derek's."

Jessie nodded, yanking her keys out of her book bag, "Take my car—it's faster than that piece of crap truck you drive."

Alex smirked briefly at the joking jab, "But how are you going to get to Derek?"

"I'm gonna run," Jessie grinned.

* * *

Isaac, Derek and Baako stood on raised platforms in safety as Baako threw an electrical chord into the flooded loft.

"Is this gonna kill 'em?" Isaac wondered out loud.

"Let's hope so," Jessie chimed in suddenly as she let herself into the loft through the window.

"Jessie," Baako grinned, "What are you doing here?"

Jessie carefully stood on the window sill away from the water, feeling her heart squeeze in fear just at the sight of it, "Helping."

* * *

"So I was looking through one of his drawers," Allison explained to Scott, "and I found this," she held something up in her hand but before Scott could get a good look at what it was they heard the front door of the apartment open.

They looked on in horror at her bedroom door as Allison gasped, "He wasn't supposed to be back yet." She quickly tugged on Scott's hand and pulled him into her closet. The two tried to fit into the cramped space, Scott averting his eyes to the ceiling and trying to think of anything other than how close she was to him.

"Scott," Allison whispered, causing him to look down at her.

"Yeah?"

"Are you still waiting for me?" she asked quietly, sparsely using her vocal chords.

Scott looked into her eyes, searching for the spark of warmth he'd always cherished before they would kiss. It's wasn't there. Right now her eyes were just searching his for something that may or may not be there either.

He was about to answer her—how though, he didn't know—when she started to lean up toward him, her lips getting dangerously close to meeting his. Scott sighed inwardly, pulling his face further from hers, "No... I can't..."

Allison pulled back, a flash of hurt crossing her features, "No?"

Scott numbly shook his head, "This isn't... right. This isn't the way it's supposed to be."

Allison opened her mouth to answer his statement when they heard the front door close again, signally that Chris had made his exit.

Allison led them out of the closet and into her dad's study. Scott closed the door behind them as she went to walk around her dad's desk, "See this map? Last time we were in here talking, my dad put a book over it. There was something about the way he did it—it was like it was like he was trying to cover it."

Scott peered down at the map, seeing nothing, "I don't see anything."

"Yeah, you can't until you use this," Allison answered him, holding up the object she'd showed him before. It was a purple light. She switched it on and swept it over the map, revealing highlighted markings all over, "He's been tracking and marking everything." She pointed out certain markings, "Cora and Baako at the bank, the office in the penthouse above us, all of the dead bodies. He has a symbol for where someone was taken and then a different mark for where the bodies are found, see?"

She paused, "Now here's the scary part," she looked at Scott, a frown deeply embedded in her lips, "There have been six sacrifices, right?" Scott nodded in confirmation. Allison took a shaky breath, "There are twelve markings on the map."

"What?" Scott asked, that was scary indeed, "What does that mean? Did your dad find other bodies and not tell anyone?"

"I don't think so," Allison whispered, "I think he knows where the bodies are going to be found—so one of these six locations, one of these," she waved the light over them, "is where Deaton could end up."

"And Jessie's dad," Scott realized.

"I mean, it doesn't tell us where they're being kept right now, but—but it's close to figuring it out."

* * *

Scott held his phone up to his ear as he spoke to Stiles about what Allison found, "Deaton and Dr. Hansen have to be at two of the six locations, but they're all over town. I don't know how we can get to all of them fast enough."

"Well, we might not have to," Stiles told him, "Danny was doing a project on something for Harris' physics class, and I think it actually means something."

"Since Jessie said Harris was sacrificed, it probably does," Scott admitted, "It might be the reason the Darach targeted them both. What is the project on?"

"Something on... telluric currents," Stiles answered.

"Did you say currents?" Scott asked, remembering Deucalion's clue.

* * *

Isaac, Baako, Derek and Jessie all stood on a safe platform, waiting for Kali to show up. It was quiet until Isaac noticed something, "Isn't that light supposed to be on?" he pointed to Derek's alert light connected to the alarm he set up for intruders.

"Yeah," Derek growled, anticipation gearing up inside him.

"What does it meant if it's not?" Isaac asked his Alpha.

"Someone cut the auxiliary power," Derek told him.

"What about the main-" Isaac started to ask when all the lights cut out completely, plunging the group into total darkness. Baako stood protectively next to his sister, gripping her hand in comfort.

Derek walked over to the edge of their safe platform, stepping into the shallow water, no electricity to threaten him now.

"Derek," Isaac gaped at the failed plan before him, "What do we do now?"

Derek stared at the door of his loft, his eyes glowing Alpha red, "We fight."

The door to the loft creaked open as Kali walked in, barefoot and eyes red to see Derek already transformed and waiting with Isaac, Baako and Jessie flanking him. She grinned, "Gonna be honest Derek. When Ennis died, I thought to myself I'd just go for it. Find you and kill you, wherever you stood." She paused, taking one step down the stone stairs that led into the loft, "Then I remembered how you surround yourself with these teenagers, hiding behind them, and I thought, 'what's a girl got to do to get you alone?'"

That must have been some kind of signal because the next twist was Ethan and Aiden appearing in the doorway with none other than Marissa struggling in their clutches, "Derek..."

Derek's angry face faltered to a more worried and shocked expression, worry for Marissa, the girl he loved.

"You and me, Derek," Kali propositioned, "Or they tear her apart."

Marissa desperately kicked in the twins' arms, shouting, "Let go of me!" But they were way stronger than her. Aiden was beginning to lose patience with her struggling and raised his sharp claws to her throat, "Stop moving and stop talking. Or the tearing you apart thing might happen a bit prematurely."

Derek growled angrily as Kali smirked, "What do you say? You think you can beat me one on one?"

Derek jerked his head to the side, signaling the teenagers behind him to leave him to deal with Kali alone. Jessie went to protest but Baako grabbed her arms and dragged her over to the side to stand with him and Isaac.

Derek answered the she-wolf calmly, but menacingly, "I'm gonna rip your throat out—with my teeth."

* * *

"Okay, so what does this kid's homework have to do with finding them?" Cora asked as Scott situated a large photo he took of Chris' map and Stiles showed them Danny's paper on a table in the back room of the vet's office.

"Because it's not just homework, okay?" Stiles told her. "It's a project on geomagnetic fields. They flow through the earth. They can even be affected by lunar phases."

"Wait, look at this," Georgie grabbed Danny's paper, flipping it to the front page, revealing capitalized red writing on the title page, "Mr. Harris left a note for Danny's proposal."

"'I strongly advise you to choose another subject,'" Stiles read out loud, "'The ideas here, while innovative and thoughtful, border on pseudo-science.'"

"'Not suitable for class'," Georgie finished. "He was trying to throw Danny off the Darach's trail."

"Harris wasn't just a sacrifice," Scott realized. "He knew something."

"He may have even been an accomplice," Georgie theorized.

"What was he into?" Emily asked almost to herself.

"Now, check this out," Stiles moved on quickly, snatching a large folded piece of paper and unfolding it on the table, "Allison's dad wasn't the only one with a map, all right? Danny had one too."

Alex let his eyes glaze over the map, on the blue and orange highlighted lines, "He marked all the telluric currents."

"Exactly," Stiles confirmed. "Now, the weird thing about Beacon Hills is that it actually is a beacon. You wouldn't believe how much energy flowing through the earth is around this town."

"Stiles," Scott cut him off, spreading Chris' map next to Danny's, "Look, they match."

"All right, there's three places, right?" Georgie asked, "Where they're taken, where they're found-"

"And wherever they are in between," Emily finished for her.

"Look," Stiles caught there attention, marking an 'X' on where Kyle had went missing and where he was later found, "They're right on the telluric current."

"So maybe Kyle was actually sacrificed somewhere in between," Georgie theorized.

"You said there's six more bodies to be found," Cora addressed Scott, "Deaton's one of them."

Scott nodded, "And Jessie's dad."

"If he's even still alive," Cora pointed out. "He went missing hours before Deaton did. Who's to say his body isn't lying somewhere to be found already?"

"We can't think like that," Alex snapped at her. "We'll find him—for her." He shared a look with his sister, both of them knowing they were thinking along the same lines.

"They have to be held somewhere in between," Emily murmured.

Stiles searched the map with a pen ready when Cora grabbed his hand, "Stop." She dragged his hand to a point on the map that read 'BEACON HILLS NATIONAL BANK'. "He's in the vault. He's in the same vault."

They all packed up to get ready as Alex explained, "Emily and I will take Danny's map and search the current that Jessie's father was taken on."

"How are you gonna have time to search all of that?" Scott asked, worried for his best friend's father.

"We have reinforcements," Alex answered him cryptically.

They all made their way out of the office when Lydia called for them, "Guys, hold on."

"Lydia, we don't have time," Scott turned to look at her and she jerked her head to where Cora was looking at her phone.

"It's Baako," Cora cringed. "The plan didn't work. They cut the power."

Georgie felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out, "I just got the same message from Jessie. But she has a plan B."

"It's just like he said," Scott whispered to himself, looking at his friends with earnest. "Go. I can save Deaton myself."

"And we'll have enough man power to search for Dr. Hansen," Emily put in.

"What about us?" Stiles asked his friend.

"Cora can't get there fast enough without you," Scott reasoned. "Go. We can save both of them."

Stiles pursed his lips in thought before nodding, "All right, let's go."

* * *

Derek swiped a claw at Kali, who easily dodged him, flipping backwards into the splashing water around them. Marissa struggled in Ethan and Aiden's arms, tears flooding her eyes as she watched Derek get slashed in the chest by on the she-wolf's feet, "Derek!"

Kali flipped up on the table, Derek reached a claw to swipe under her legs but she jumped over them, vengeance filling her heart with unfiltered rage and unleashed control. She kicked at his chest, making him twist and land on the ground with a dark splash.

* * *

Scott stumbled into the vault that he, Derek and Jessie had broken into to save Baako and Cora. He gasped when he saw Deaton hanging from his rope bound hands from the ceiling in the middle of the vault. He rushed forward to free him when an unseen, almost blue force propelled him away from his boss. Scott groaned as he landed on his back with a thud, looking up to see with horror struck on his face—a ring of mountain ash around Deaton's hanging body.

* * *

Derek twisted into a crouch, snarling and growling at Kali with fury. The she-wolf growled back through her jagged fangs and soaked brown hair, jumping from the table and kicking Derek in the face, making him spin around back into the water before crouching again.

"Derek!" Marissa struggled harder in her werewolf shackles. "Let him go! Leave him alone!"

"Shut up, bitch!" Aiden growled at her, his eyes glowing red.

Isaac instinctively lunged for them and her, to try and save her. But Aiden caught the movement and pointed his claws into the side of her neck, just barely puncturing her skin as she whimpered.

"No!" Derek shouted at his beta, catching the threat in the movement.

Isaac's eyes widened as he turned back to Baako, "Wait!"

* * *

"This is the third place we've tried," a voice with a slight Irish lilt to it warned Alex as they drove to their next sight.

"We'll find him," Alex determined. "We have to."

"And what if we don't?" the man asked. "What are you going to tell her?"

"That we tried," Alex answered him, though he hoped he never had to have that conversation with Jessie. "Emily and Cole are searching from the other end of the current. Hannity and your brother got their section. We have to find him, McGarretty. And we have to find him soon."

"But you know what they're gonna be guarded with," McGarretty—Gavin McGarretty answered.

"Then send someone."

* * *

Kali growled as she struggled with her grip on Derek's wrist. Jessie whimpered in the corner with Baako's arms around her.

"Where are they?" she whispered to herself.

* * *

Scott pulled himself up from the floor and walked back in front of Deaton. He raised his hand to push at the invisible barrier, a blue malevolent glow erupting from the contact as Scott pushed and pushed with all his supernatural might.

Scott let out a cry in his efforts as he pressed both hands on the barrier, desperate to save the life of his boss—his only father figure. This man had been there for him through thick and thin, through most of his life.

Scott let out another cry as his eyes began to glow bright amber as he locked eyes with Deaton. Deaton struggled to keep his eyes open, losing the strength to pull himself up by his wrists just to catch a single breath and keep himself alive and kicking just a little bit longer. He hated to be used against Scott this way. But he was dragged into this after a safe decade away from it. He couldn't walk away anymore. Scott's eyes glowed bright and brighter, before getting darker, the color shifting like lava liquid to a bright vibrant ruby Alpha red.

Deaton had no breath to gasp at the change before Scott's effort were futile as the mountain ash thrust him back. Scott cursed inwardly as he landed on his back again.

"Scott!" Sheriff Stilinski suddenly appeared in the vault doorway, raising his gun towards Deaton, "Let me give it a shot." He shot at the ropes holding Deaton, causing the vet to fall into a heap on the floor.

"Mr. McCall, are you alright?" Another voice sounded as a man appeared from behind the Sheriff and knelt at Scott's side.

"M'fine," Scott grunted, sitting up. "Who are you?"

"A friend," the man answered cryptically.

* * *

Cora, Stiles, Lydia and Georgie all rushed into the man electric room to turn the power back on, facing a wall full of red levers with no clear instructions. "Okay, what do we do?" Stiles asked, looking at all the options, sort of lost.

"Pull all of them," Cora stated, reaching to yank on one of the top levers, the rest following her example.

* * *

Isaac felt his phone vibrate, yanking it out to see a text from Cora that read 'NOW!'

"Jessie!" He shouted as a signal to her and ran toward Aiden and Ethan holding Marissa. Jessie knew what Isaac meant—the others had turned the power back on—but she and Baako had no time to get to safety before the electricity slammed back on and the water was electrified, shocking herself, Baako, Derek and Kali. She and Baako landed together on the other side of the loft, heavy and weak. Jessie felt little shocks rock her body, knowing she'd need a few moments to recover.

Ethan and Aiden abandoned their hold on Marissa, leaving Isaac to envelope her in his arms protectively for his Alpha. The twins listened to Kali shout out, "Take him!" and grabbed Derek by his arms, holding them claws up. Derek fought against their hold but he was too weak from the electrocution and they were too strong for him.

Jessie felt the weight of Baako's arm leave her waist as Kali grabbed the weak beta and raised his body over Derek's outstretched claws. With a sinister grin, she dropped Baako's dead weight onto Derek's claws, the Alpha feeling his nails rip into the beta's flesh, and feeling a surge of power overcome him, along with overwhelming horror at what he just did. He took his beta's life.

"NOOO!" Jessie screamed as Baako choked on his own spit in pain.

Aiden and Ethan let go of Derek as they started to follow Kali out of the loft. "I'm giving you till the next full moon, Derek. Make the smart choice. Join the pack-" she twisted to face him from the doorway, her claws gesturing to Isaac, Marissa, and Jessie, "Or next time I'm killing all of you."

Derek tried to push pressure on Baako's wounds, holding his body up against the heal of his hands. The blood kept seeping through his fingers.

"It's okay..." Baako whispered painfully.

Derek felt despair filling his chest like a heat, "No, no," he whispered, looking for any way to heal Baako that he could, but Baako wasn't healing—not this time. "No, it's not. It's not."

"It's all okay, Derek," Baako assured him, his eyes starting to droop.

"I'm—I'm sorry," the Alpha rasped.

"The full moon," Baako spoke softly, "Being park of a pack. Being close to my sister. That was worth it."

"Baako!" Jessie shouted, tears in her voice as she scrambled through the splashing water to her brother's side. "Hold on—hold on."

"There's a lunar eclipse," Baako muttered to her and Derek, "I always wondered what—what that felt like for one of us."

He fell out of Derek's grasp, landing with a thud and a splash onto the floor. Jessie knelt over him, "Baako—don't go. Just hold on. If you hold on long enough, it'll heal. It has to heal."

"I don't have that kind of time," Baako whispered to her gently, "Wounds from an Alpha take longer."

Jessie whimpered, tears falling from her eyes as she stared at her brother's face, his breath getting lighter. She shook her head, her eyes clenching briefly to expel the tears, "No... no..."

"It's okay, Jessie," Baako murmured. "I promise you, it's okay."

"How can this be okay?" Jessie asked him. "Nothing about this is okay."

"I did my best," he confided. "I did my best to protect you—all of you. And I'm not gonna stop. If werewolves—and vampires are real... maybe spirits are too. I can be your spirit... I can still try to protect you."

Jessie sniffed, "But I couldn't protect you..."

"I'm the big brother here," Baako grimaced, trying to smile. "And I swore from the beginning that I'd help protect you."

_Eight year old Baako held four year old Jessie's hand in the waiting room of a hospital in Portland, Oregon. Their Aunt Rory walked stood with a big smile when their daddy walked into the waiting room, covered in green scrubs, "It's a girl."_

_Aunt Rory clapped her hands and tugged on Baako's shoulders, "Let's go meet your sister."_

_Baako held Jessie's hand as the kids followed their Aunt and father into the hospital room, seeing their mommy laying on a bed, looking sweaty and tired but blissfully happy. Baako peered into her arms, seeing a small bundle of pink in her arms. The only other baby he'd seen was Jessie when the strangers brought her. Paula smiled at her children, "Look, Baako, Jessie. It's your baby sister, Bethany."_

_Hunter clasped his proud hands on Baako's shoulders, "You're a big brother to two now. You gonna help me protect them son?"_

_Baako looked up at his Daddy with his large brown eyes, "Yes, Dad. I'll protect them."_

"And I'll always be there for you—to protect you—I promise," Baako whispered.

"Don't leave me..." Jessie whimpered, her cries echoing off the walls. "I can't do—this without you."

"I'll never leave you," Baako reassured her. "Any of you." His chest lifted briefly, his breath hitching before he let out a sigh. Jessie heard his heart skip a beat before it slowed to a painful stop.

"No..." Jessie whispered almost inaudibly to herself. "No... please... no..."

She burst into uncontrollable sobs as she laid her head on Baako's chest, her body practically collapsing in inconsolable emotion.

Stiles, Georgie, Cora and Lydia all burst into the loft room to see the scene unfolding in the center. Derek stared at his hands in horror as Cora rushed into the room, tears dropping down her cheeks as she looked as Baako's serenely dead expression. "No!"

Jessie didn't even react to Cora's presence. The she-wolf laid an arm around Jessie's back in linked comfort. The two girls had been the closest out of the group to Baako.

Stiles stood over Derek, putting hand on his shoulder for some kind of comfort.

Marissa stood from Isaac's arms in the doorway, straggling over to Derek's side. She knelt on her knees, her jeans getting soaked in the water and burrowed herself into his neck, "It's okay—It's okay."

* * *

"If you know something about him and you're reluctant to tell me, try remembering it's a long list of favors and penance before you're redeemed in my eyes," Chris Argent snapped at his father.

Gerard dabbed at at his mouth, collecting the black drool at the corner of his lips.

"You're gonna tell me the story," Chris warned him, "And you're gonna tell me the truth." With that said, Chris stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Gerard smirked into his napkin when the next minute, the door opened to reveal Allison.

The huntress stood in the doorway with her arms crossed sternly across her chest, speaking with a stern attitude to match, "Surprised to see me?"

"Only surprised that it's taken you this long," Gerard grinned.

* * *

Scott smiled happily as Deaton panted against the bank vault wall, Scott and the Sheriff crouching in front of him. the young werewolf turned to look at his best friend's dad, "How'd you find us?"

"The vials in the clinic with the Celtic symbols on 'em?" The Sheriff explained. "I knew that one of 'em looked familiar," he gestured to the bank logo on the floor. The same image that led Allison to the bank the night they saved Baako and Cora.

"Sheriff," Deaton wheezed. "Thank you—for being one hell of a Detective."

"You bet," the Sheriff patted his leg. "Let's get you an ambulance."

"Okay," the other guy broke in. "I should go check in with the others."

Scott stood up from his position, "Who are you? How did you get here and why?"

"I'm here to help," the man answered, Scott now noticing an almost Irish accent in his voice, "Alex sent me."

"You're what he meant by reinforcements," Scott realized.

The man nodded, "Among others. Name's Connor. And I've got a significant stake in Miss Hansen's future. It's only right I help her friend too."

"How do you know Jessie?" Scott interrogated protectively.

"I don't," Connor admitted. "But I will. Don't worry, mate, I'm on your side. But there are a lot of hands at play here and a lot of them want the Demi-Cruore under their control."

"Demi-Cruore," Scott murmured. "Deucalion called her that. What does that actually mean?"

"It means that there's a lot in store for her in the future and she's going to need all the help she can get," Connor answered him without actually answering him. "There's a lot to unlock inside of her and that's part of my job."

"And who exactly gave you that job?" Deaton panted.

"Her family," Connor answered. "Her – father's side of the family anyway. Listen there's a lot of rungs on the ladder you have to climb before you get the whole view, lads. And I've got a group of high strung hunters to meet up with." He started to make his way for the exit when he was interrupted again.

"Wait," Scott called after him, "Do you know if they found Jessie's dad? Is he... alive?"

Connor sighed, half-turning back, "Alex and Gavin found him while you both were getting the vet out of his binds. He's in ICU. Not sure if it's safe to say he'll be okay yet."

Scott inwardly flinched.

"Look," Connor sighed, "The man may be all right. What's most important is Jessie. You may have your own destiny, lad, but hers is the one I'm invested in. You can't save everyone, I've learned that and I'm sure you're about to, but Jessie is certainly up on the priority list. Now you just need to focus of this Alpha Pack and the Darach. I'm sure I'll see you again soon."

With that, the Irish lad winked and stalked out of the vault.

Upon his exit, Deaton started talking urgently, grabbing Scott's sleeve, "Your eyes were red. Bright red."

Scott gaped at him in shock, crouching in front of him, "What? How is that possible?"

"It's rare," Deaton sighed, "It's something that doesn't happen within 100 years, but every once in a while—a beta can become an Alpha without having to steal or take that power. They call it a true Alpha. It's one who rises purely on the strength of the character, by virtue, by sheer force of will."

"You knew this would happen," Scott realized.

"I believed," Deaton elaborated, "From the moment I knew you were bitten—I believed."

"You're not the only one," Scott breathed.

"No," Deaton shook his head, "Deucalion isn't after Derek—he's after you."


	14. The Past Bleeds Fear

Jessie sobbed into her best friend's shoulder as they sat together on her bed. She clutched his T-shirt in her hands as he ran his hands up and down her arm and her back, trying to comfort her as best as he could.

"So what exactly happened?" Sheriff Stilinski stood outside her room with Isaac and Stiles in front of him trying to explain.

"Baako was out with the search party to find Deaton," Isaac started their cover story, "We don't know where."

"He texted us that something was out there," Stiles pitched in, "Jessie was on the phone with him when he was attacked by something."

"Another animal attack?" the Sheriff muttered incredulously to himself, "Is there anything else you can think of?"

Both boys shook their heads and soon the Sheriff was on his way to talk to the coroner. The police had found where Cora and Isaac had placed Baako's body about 45 minutes ago and the Sheriff had to go to the scene.

"It's okay, Jessie," Scott held Jessie into his side securely, "It'll be okay."

"What am I supposed to do?" Jessie hiccuped into his shoulder, "My brother is dead and my dad might join him any second."

"Alex and his hunter friends found him," Scott assured her, "He's in the hospital getting the care he needs. He's friends with all the doctors and nurses there. They won't let him down."

Jessie sniffed, "Why does everyone have to leave us?"

Isaac and Stiles stood in the doorway, watching the two friends hold each other as Jessie experienced the loss of her brother. Isaac watched with a heavy and sinking heart as he watched Scott reach up to wipe Jessie's tears away.

"It's going to be okay, Jessie," Scott whispered to her. She felt the bed shift and briefly looked behind her to see Stiles sitting down on her other side. The two best friends shared a smile as Stiles slowly took her right hand into his and leaned forward to kiss her hair.

"How can you know that?" Jessie whispered, staring at her bedroom floor carpet.

"Because we still have each other," Scott told her, cupping her face and forcing her too look at him, "We're in this together. From beginning—to end."

Jessie briefly smiled at his words, silently mouthing a tearful, "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me for being your friend," Scott told her again, "I'll always be your friend."

* * *

Alex leaned over Jessie's desk piled high with papers and books. She gave him permission to use the journals and research she'd compiled in her room while she stayed with Stiles and his dad until her father got out of the hospital. He rubbed his eyes, seeing in the mirror that his sister had fallen asleep in Jessie's bed with a book in her lap.

Alex flipped through Wesley Sange's journal when his eyes fell upon something so important.

_I finally know the reason Tanya's family is so against our relationship. My parents finally told us about the prophecy that can only mean us. I mean—my family is the last living descendants of vampires. And Tanya is a Grimm. It can only be us. It can only be our future child._

**_A son of the vampires would mate with a daughter of the Grimm and produce an heir so powerful that no supernatural being in the world would be able to defeat it._ **

_My father explained that the combination of vampire abilities with the enhancements the Grimms possessed would create a powerful child. I didn't understand how powerful he or she could be. I mean, our vampire abilities have diluted over time since the great genocide in the 40s. We're not as powerful as hunters used to think we were. They don't even know we exist anymore._

_But my dad told me something he and my mom had kept from me. Every vampire kept a vile of blood from the last pure vampire after he was staked. It served as a reminder of the reason we stayed hidden from the world. But another reason our people kept it was because ingesting it could unleash our true power._

_If I drank from the vile I wear around my neck, I would be ten times stronger than I already am. But if my child drank it, it would make their powers from me and abilities from his or her mother a million times stronger. He or she would truly be unstoppable. They're right to be afraid._

_But they're not right to come between me and Tanya. We're meant to be, I've always known that. This just confirms it. As powerful as any future child we have can be, they will also be good. I know that._

"Oh my god," Alex breathed, rushing to his sister's side and shaking her shoulder violently, "Emily wake up."

"What is it?" Emily's thick accent filled his ears as she groggily sat up, "It's late."

"Look," Alex goaded her, shoving the book under her nose.

Her eyes traveled from left to right, widening slowly as she realized what it would mean, "Jessie could become even stronger than she is."

"Unstoppable," Alex breathed, "We have to tell her."

Emily grabbed her brother's hand, "Wait, Alex, think about this. She just lost her brother and she could still lose her father. You can't bombard her with this right now. We need to wait just a little while until all of this is over."

"None of this will ever be over," Alex told her, "If it's not the Kanima, it's the Darach. If it's not the Darach, it'll be something else."

Emily shook her head, "Whatever. Just wait until she's ready to know."

* * *

Jessie tossed and turned in Stiles' bed, finding it impossible to get comfortable no matter how exhausted she was. She sighed, sitting up and reaching over to her phone. She slid her thumb across the screen and blinked when it lit up. She searched through her messages, seeing a goodnight message from Scott and a brief update on her father's condition from Melissa. He wasn't doing any worse, but he wasn't doing any better.

But there were no messages from Derek. He ran off after Baako's death and they hadn't gotten a hold of him. Jessie sighed.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Jessie stayed quiet until the door creaked and Stile poked his head in. He saw her sitting up and sighed, walking into his bedroom, "I figured you wouldn't be able to sleep either."

Jessie shook her head in agreement, "Every time I close my eyes..."

"I know," Stiles assured her, sitting next to her on the bed. He leaned up against the headboard and opened his arms.

Jessie quirked an eyebrow, "Your girlfriend won't mind?"

Stiles smiled, "It's amazing that I even have a girlfriend. But you're still my best friend. She knows that."

Jessie accepted the answer and fell into his open arms, letting her head rest in his neck and closing her eyes.

Kali dropped Baako's dead weight onto Derek's claws, Jessie watching as his nails rip into her brother's flesh, and feeling a wave of devastation overcome her, along with overwhelming horror at what Derek just did.

Jessie flinched in Stiles' arms. He tightened his hold on her, shushing her, "Hey, calm down. It's okay."

Jessie attempted to relax, wrapping her arm around Stile's torso and using his chest as a pillow, exhaustion finally catching up with her as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next morning Jessie woke up to an empty bed and the smell of eggs and bacon and pancakes. She followed the smell to see the Sheriff flipping pancakes over on a pan and Stiles' stuffing his face at the kitchen island. His cheeks were puffed full of food as he turned his head upon her arrival, "We made pancakes."

At least that's what she guessed he was saying. With the food in his mouth it sounded more like, "Vee mabe pancuffs."

Jessie smiled weakly, "Smells delicious, Sheriff."

The Sheriff smiled sheepishly at her, "I think by now you can call me Alec."

Jessie nodded as Alec filled a plate of breakfast for her, "And no school today for both of you. You deserve a break. Stay in today and just rest."

Jessie swallowed and nodded again, "Thanks."

The Sheriff left soon after, still on the case of the Darach sacrifices.

Jessie and Stiles spent the day in their pajamas, watching re-runs of Friends. Scott stopped by and the three best friends just stayed together. They took the day of somewhat normal and simply rested and healed. Jessie knew she'd never be completely healed. She experienced too much pain. But she knew Scott and Stiles would always be there for her.

The next day she got the surprise of her life when at three in the afternoon there was a knock at Stiles' bedroom door where she sat alone on the bed. She stayed quiet, thinking Stiles would just walk in but instead there was another knock.

Jessie curiously stared at the door, "Come in?"

The door creaked open and none other than Allison peaking her head into the room, "Can I come in?"

Jessie crossed her legs and nodded, keeping her shock to herself at seeing Allison here. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to..." Allison trailed off nervously, "See how you were doing?"

Jessie leaned her elbows on her knees, "Not good, Allison. Now get on to why you're really here."

Allison paused, a reminiscent yet still nervous and guilty smile on her face, "I might never get used to that. You always knew when someone wasn't telling the whole truth. But I really am worried about you."

Jessie look at her lap, weaving her fingers together as she swallowed a lump in her throat.

"You were there for me when my mother died," Allison whispered, "You hugged me. You even blamed yourself. And I repaid you by betraying your friendship."

"And then you ran away to France," Jessie finished the story for her, "What's your point?"

"I'm sorry," Allison told her sincerely, "I'm so sorry," a tear fell from her left eyes. She sniffed and hastily wiped it away, "If I could go back I'd change it all. I swear it. But I can't. I just wish none of it ever happened."

"You and me both," Jessie told her, looking up at her, "But it did. That's not going to change."

"I know," Allison accepted, "But if there's anything I can ever do to make it up to you—I would do it in a heartbeat."

"Look, Allison, I'm not gonna sugar coat anything. I don't trust you," Jessie told her, Allison flinching at the coldness in her voice, "I was your friend. I was always there for you. I gave you a chance to say goodbye to your mother. And you proceeded to help your grandfather kidnap my family, stab my boyfriend fifteen times with daggers and broke my best friend's heart. I don't know if I can ever forgive you. Or ever trust you again. And God knows I want to." Jessie sighed, "I just don't know Allison."

The huntress nodded, "I understand. I hope one day you can forgive me."

"So do I," Jessie murmured.

* * *

"I'm going to Derek's," Stiles told Jessie that night, "To see if Cora or Peter have heard from him. Do you want to come?"

Jessie shook her head, "I can't go back there yet. Besides, I'm helping Scott."

Stiles nodded, knowing what she was talking about, "Okay... be safe."

"You too," Jessie told him.

* * *

"Okay, so is two days standard, then, or are we thinking Derek's on, like, some extended getaway?" Stiles asked Cora as she stared out the window of Derek's loft.

Georgie sat at the table in the middle of the room with her knees pulled up to her chest as she watched her boyfriend pace the floor.

"Why do you care?" Cora turned to him.

Stiles paused, staring at her incredulously, "Why do I care? Let's see because over the last few weeks, my best friend's tried to kill himself, his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed, Baako, Jessie's brother was killed by alphas, I—do you want me to keep going?" Stiles glared at her, "Because I can, all right? For, like, an hour."

"You think Derek can do anything about that?" Cora asked him, leaning her palms on the table across from Georgie.

"Well, since he's the one everyone seems to be after, it's more like he should do something about it, yeah," Stiles told her.

Cora looked down, frowning, "I don't know. There's something different about him now. He wasn't like this when I knew him."

"What was he like?" Stiles asked her.

Footsteps echoed above them, the three teenagers looking to see Peter stepping down the metal spiral staircase, "A lot like Scott, actually. A lot like most teenagers—unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable really only to other teenagers."

"What happened to him?" Georgie asked, speaking for the first time in 30 minutes, "What changed him?"

"Well, the same thing that changes most young men," Peter answered mischievously, "A girl."

Stiles stared at the former-Alpha dubiously, "You're telling me some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?"

Peter looked between the boy and his niece, "Do you remember Derek before he was an Alpha? Had blue eyes? Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?"

Stiles shrugged, "I just always thought it was, like, a genetic thing."

"If you want to know what changed Derek," Peter began, "You need to know what changed the color of his eyes."

* * *

Gerard dabbed a handkerchief under his nose, gathering black goo from his skin when he heard the door open, looking up to see his granddaughter let herself into the room, "Did you bring him?"

Allison said nothing as Scott filled the open doorway. Gerard grinned, "Oh, come in, Scott." But his grin dropped when he saw Scott's vampire friend let herself into the room after him, "Miss Hansen. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I didn't really like the thought of my best friend alone with the dream team," Jessie sarcastically snapped at him.

Gerard grimaced, "No matter," as he folded up his sleeve and held out his bare arm, "Why don't you give an old man a little something for his pain?" He may have phrased it like a question, but the demand was obvious in his tone.

Scott hesitated, hearing Allison whisper to him, "You don't have to do this."

"If you want me to talk, this is how it's going to happen," Gerard snarled.

Scott stepped forward, "If I do this, you have to tell us everything you know."

"Everything," Jessie reiterated, "Or else I'm gonna help add to your pain."

Gerard grunted, thrust his hand out. Scott slowly linked his hand with the old man's like a handshake. Scott grunted as blackness enveloped his veins, visible under his skin up to his neck as he shook from the form of Gerard's pain, his eyes glowing amber.

Jessie stepped forward and yanked Scott's hand out of Gerard's, "Now talk."

"He still has work to do," Gerard growled, wanting more of his pain to be taken away.

"Too much could kill him," Jessie crouched in front of him so her glaring face was at level with his, "And your life is not worth his. You're worth only what your information is worth. So it better be good."

* * *

The bell of the bakery door rang overhead as Marissa and one of her cashiers swept up the floor. Marissa looked up and smiled at the sight of her new friend, "Hey Jennifer."

Jennifer Blake smiled at the young aspiring doctor, "Hey Mar, I hope I'm not getting in your way. I just finished with all those English papers."

"The life of an English teacher is a busy one," Marissa teased, "What's up?"

"Just wanted to check in," Jennifer told her, running the tips of her fingers along one of the table tops, "You seemed upset the other day after that scare with your boyfriend."

Marissa knew the teacher was talking about when Derek showed up to her almost dead, and then when she was kidnapped by Alpha werewolves. But Jennifer didn't know the specifics. Marissa shrugged, "I'm hanging in there. It's just been pretty stressful."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Jennifer asked sincerely.

Marissa shook her head, "No, it's okay. I'm just heading home after this. There's a bubble bath waiting for me."

Jennifer grinned, "Sounds nice. And your boyfriend?"

"Derek's dealing with his own stress right now," Marissa explained, "I'm giving him some space."

Jennifer tilted her head with a pout, "That's too bad. I was looking forward to meeting the very elusive Derek."

"Maybe another time," Marissa allowed, slightly put off by her female friend wanting to meet her very attractive and very male boyfriend.

"Maybe."

* * *

"They found two more bodies?" Gerard asked.

"Two more doctors," Allison chimed in from her stance behind him, "Right after Deaton and Jessie's father were found."

"Right after?" Gerard repeated, a mischievous grin gracing his face, "Almost like it was expected he'd survive."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked him suspiciously.

"How do you know your dark druid isn't the wise veterinarian himself?" Gerard posed for them with a gleeful and malicious smile, "Maybe he knew you'd find him. Maybe he planned it that way."

"We both know Deaton has nothing to do with this," Jessie growled, "You're just stalling for time so you can figure out how to shape your story in a way that benefits you. And as it is, whether or not you actually help us, we still won't suddenly want to be your friend."

Gerard stared at her with a glare under his wrinkles and black bleeding nose.

She stood in front of him, her eyes briefly glowing cobalt blue, a smile gracing her lips when she saw the old man flinch almost imperceptibly at the sight, "How's that cancer, huh? I bet it's all gone. No idea how. But your body just can't seem to stop oozing black goo. And you're still in a chair. And you're still in a place like this. Do you see how your plans work out, Gerard? Not so well, huh? So why don't you tell us what we need to know? Because our plans are the ones that seem to work out."

"Tell us how to beat him," Scott demanded.

Gerard scoffed, "You can't. I've tried."

Allison shook her head form her position by the window, "Then this is a complete waste of time. He doesn't know anything." She started walking for the door, Jessie joining her, "Let's go."

"Wait," Gerard called after her, the young hunter grinning slightly at his voice, "I can tell you one thing."

Both girls and Scott turned back toward him, "Deucalion may have lost his eyes, but he's not always blind."

* * *

Stiles sat next to Georgie in another chair, leaning his elbow on the table, slightly chewing at his thumbnail. "Okay, so if Derek was a sophomore back then, how old was he? How old were you?" Stiles paused, still confused, "How old are you now?"

Georige pulled his nail out of his mouth as Peter answered cryptically, "Not as young as we could have been, but not as old as you might think."

"Okay, that was frustratingly vague," Stiles quipped, turning to Cora, "How old are you?"

"I'm 17," Cora answered blankly.

Stiles gave Peter a look as he pointed to her, "See, that's an answer. That's how we answer people."

"Well, 17 how you'd measure in years-" Cora started to elaborate.

"Alright, I'm just gonna drop it," Stiles cut her off, frustrated to the last straw.

"What happened between Derek and this girl?" Georgie steered the conversation back on track.

"What do you think happened?" Peter asked her sarcastically from his spot on the couch, "They were teenagers. One minute, it's 'I hate you, don't talk to me', the next it's frantic groping in any dark corner they could manage to find themselves alone in for five minutes."

* * *

Marissa drove up to an abandoned distillery, putting her car in park before killing the ignition. She shut her lights off and stepped out, walking into the building until she saw Derek sitting on some crate, staring out at nothing in thought.

"Figured I'd find you here," Marissa commented.

Derek looked up at the sound of her voice, "Well you found me."

Marissa sighed, sitting next to him, "Why are you torturing yourself like this Derek? You didn't kill Baako—they did. They just used you to do it."

"And it worked," Derek snapped, "It felt exactly how he said it would. The power—Baako's life draining from him into me. And that's exactly what he wanted."

"Didn't you say that he told you you'd want to kill the rest of your pack after killing just one?" Marissa asked him, "Do you feel like hunting Isaac down and killing him right now?"

Derek looked away form her, whispering, "No."

"Then he hasn't won," Marissa told him, "Baako was not your fault. He chose to stand by you. He chose to fight with you. And he didn't—doesn't blame you for what they did. It's not your fault, Derek."

The Alpha growled, his eyes glowing red briefly as he stood from his perch and turned on her, "Why are you here, Marissa? Why the hell do you stay with me after all of this?"

"Because I tried being without you," Marissa told him as she stood, "It didn't work, remember?"

"Why don't you try again?" Derek snapped at her, "Why don't you leave? Go far away—as far away from me as you possibly can."

"No!" Marissa shouted at him.

"Why—not?" Derek enunciated at her with a raised tone.

"Because I love you, Derek!" Marissa yelled, "I love you. God help me, nothing is going to change that. I dumped you in High School and regretted it almost immediately—even though you were a pompous ass back then. I got scared off when I found out about werewolves and lizard creatures and it felt like I lost my air supply in all the gaps of time when you weren't standing outside the bakery or my apartment watching over me. Do you really think it's going to go any differently a third time?"

"At least you'd be safe!" Derek jabbed a finger at her, "At least you wouldn't be kidnapped by hunters or Alphas as a way to control me."

"It's too late for any of that," Marissa pointed out, "I'm already here. I already love you. I'm already a tool that can be used against you. They know about me whether we're actually together or not."

"I can't lose you too," Derek whispered harshly to her, cupping her face almost roughly in his hands and holding her close, "Not you too."

"So because you can't lose me..." Marissa began, "You're gonna push me away? How does that make sense Derek? I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. And as far as I know, I'm safer with you here to protect me. If I go, and your enemies still know about me, still come after me, and I'm without you, then you're gonna lose me anyway. Just... please..." A tear fell form her eye, "Just stay."

Derek sighed, staring down at her face, "I... I don't know if I can."

* * *

"They were all there," Gerard revealed the Alphas previous stay at Beacon Hills, "Ennis, Kali, Deucalion. Each with their own packs, before they'd killed them all and decided to form their little all-star team."

"But they didn't all live here, did they?" Allison asked from her seat beside Scott. Jessie stood on Scott's other side, never relaxing and staying on guard.

"No, but there was an exceptionally powerful Alpha who did live here," Gerard explained, "She had a capacity to shape-shift that was rare among her kind. That made her something of a leader, the kind of person that they would go to for advice and guidance."

"Talia Hale," Jessie knew the name before he could say it.

* * *

Alex rubbed his eyes when he came across a letter Mr. Sange – Wesley's father – snuck into his son's journal. His eyes trailed over the document as his mouth dropped open in shock. He hurried to his sister who was reading another journal, "Emily—remember what I told you about Jessie's father's body when we opened his grave?"

"Yeah," Emily replied distractedly, "You said he was totally preserved, like he hadn't even been dead an hour."

"Now I know why," Alex grinned.

* * *

Peter explained how Ennis, Kali and Deucalion and their packs had gathered against the hunters because they'd killed one of Ennis' betas. Peter stared out the window at the rain as he drew a spiral into the condescension of the glass, "Our mark for vendetta."

"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to, like, a whole new level, don't you?" Stiles commented.

"It's not just revenge," Cora snapped at him, "Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family. It's like you lose a limb."

"Which explains how easy it was for Peter to kill Laura," Stiles quipped at her.

"Do you really think you're having a harder time with Baako's death than Jessie is?" Georgie asked the she-wolf, "He was her brother, her big brother, part of her. It's hard all around."

Cora gave Georgie a dirty glare but went ignored.

"They wouldn't even let him see the body," Peter droned.

"I don't get it," Cora started, "What does this have to do with Derek?"

"Everything," Peter told them, "It's never just a single moment. It's a confluence of events." Peter turned away from the window and leaned against the table, "Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances, I saw a profound loss. Derek saw something different. He saw opportunity."

"Opportunity?" Stiles repeated questionably, "To do what?"

"To always be with her," Peter answered. He looked worriedly down at the table top, "The thing was, he had this constant fear. He was obsessing over it, thinking about it all night, all day, always on his mind."

"He wanted Ennis to turn her," Georgie realized.

"I kept telling him not to do it," Peter told them, "Every day the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. You know teenagers. I bet he even blames me. He's probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea."

"I'm sure you're just being humble, Pete," Stiles sarcastically consoled him, "I'm sure it was all your idea."

* * *

"The older wolves had a relationship with the druids," Gerard told the trio, "They called them emissaries."

"Like my boss, Deaton," Scott guessed.

"And Ms. Morrell," Jessie realized.

Gerard shakingly stood from his chair, walking over to a large book, "Do you know the myth of Lycaon?"

"I know it's where we get the word 'lycanthropy'," Scott told him.

"According to myth," Gerard flipped open the book, "Some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than the gods of Olympus. And some followers even took names to honor the titans instead of the gods."

"Like Deucalion for the son of Prometheus," Jessie nodded.

"Lycaon didn't just refuse to honor the gods," Gerard flipped the book to a picture of a banquet with human limbs, "He challenged them. He invited Zeus to a banquet and then tried to serve him the flesh of a human being." He flipped to another picture of Zeus attacking the others, their form resembling wolves howling in pain, "Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves."

"And then they went to the druids because they could teach them how to shape-shift back and forth," Jessie finished impatiently, "Hence the birth of werewolves and the reason each pack has a druid adviser. Get on with it."

* * *

"They keep us connected to humanity," Cora explained emissaries to Stiles and Georgie, "But they're a secret even in the pack. Sometimes only the Alpha knows who the emissary is. Derek and I had no idea about Deaton."

"Or his sister, Morrell," Peter chimed in.

"She's an emissary too?" Stiles gaped at the wolves.

"For the Alpha pack," Peter muttered.

"Our guidance counselor?" Stiles stared at them in shock, "Why the hell don't you people tell me any of this stuff, huh? I shared some really intimate details with her."

"And did she give you good advice?" Cora asked him.

Stiles paused, "Actually, yeah."

"That's what they do," Peter explained, "That's what Deaton used to do for Talia."

* * *

"Derek..." Marissa whispered, "Don't do this. Don't ruin what we have because you're scared."

"What is there for you to stay with?" Derek asked her, "A monster. A disappointment."

"You're not either of those things," Marissa argued, "Being a werewolf doesn't make you a monster. And everyday you're fighting for control. And everyday you have something to fight for. Don't throw that away."

Marissa walked up to him, "You have something to fight for—something to live for."

"I don't care as long as you're alive and safe," Derek told her, "Even if I don't have you."

* * *

"Ennis?" Cora asked, a little surprised, "Why would you choose him?"

Peter sat on the couch again, "Why not? Ennis needed a new member for his pack. Paige was young and strong. Doing a favor for Derek meant Ennis would be in good with Talia. Back then, everybody wanted to be in good with her."

Something occurred to Stiles, "He doesn't remember it was Ennis, does he?"

"If he does, he keeps it to himself," Peter guessed.

"Then what?" Georgie urged, "Did Ennis turn her?"

"Almost," Peter whispered, "Derek came at Ennis. A 15 year old boy against a giant. There was no reason for him to fight. Because she'd already been bitten."

* * *

"I wasn't really surprised when Deaton came to arrange a meeting with Deucalion," Gerard wiped at his nose and mouth, seated in his chair again, "As William Blake said-"

"Get to the point you old fool," Jessie snapped, "He arranged a meeting. To broker a truce. To make peace. But I'm guessing that wasn't what you had in mind."

"Do you know the fable about the scorpion and the turtle?" Gerard posed for her.

"The scorpion asked the turtle for a ride across the river, scorpion stings turtle, turtle asks why," Jessie condensed the story.

"And the scorpion says?" Gerard prompted.

"It's my nature," Jessie finished.

"I know a werewolf's nature," Gerard snarled, "I knew exactly what was coming—a trap."

"They attacked you?" Allison asked quite shocked.

"It was an ambush," Gerard confirmed.

* * *

"So did she turn into a werewolf?" Georgie asked Peter, "I mean, an Alpha bit her, right?"

"She should have," Peter murmured, lost in the memory of it, "Most of the time, the bite takes. Most of the time."

"When you offered it to me," Stiles remembered out loud, "You said, 'if it doesn't kill you'."

"If," Peter reiterated, "It didn't matter that she was young and strong. Some people just aren't made for this."

Georgie flinched at the realization of what must have happened to Paige, taking Stiles' hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. Stiles leaned closer to her instinctively.

"But she fought," Peter whispered, "She struggled desperately, trying to survive."

"But she died," Georgie whispered.

"I remember taking her body from his arms, to the woods, to a place where I knew it would be found," Peter told them, "Another in the long line of Beacon Hills animal attacks."

"And what about Derek?" Cora asked, a small hitch in her voice at the sound of what her brother went through.

"Taking an innocent life—takes something from you," the former Alpha explained, "A bit of your soul. Darkening it, dimming the once brilliant, golden yellow to a cold—stale—blue. Like mine," he flashed his eyes at them as they turned the blue color they were before they had been red.

* * *

"I'm not letting you do this, Derek," Marissa told him resolutely, "Paige didn't regret loving you even when it killed her. I'm not going to regret it either."

"How can you say that?" Derek asked her painfully, "I killed her. I killed Paige—I killed my beta. It's my fault my family is all dead."

"No it isn't," Marissa argued, "The bite killed Paige, and she still loved you. Those Alphas killed Baako, and he never blamed you. Kate killed your family and she's rotting in the ground like she deserves. Don't do this to yourself, Derek. Don't drive any chance of happiness away because of what other evil people do."

Derek didn't have time to respond before Marissa wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to meet her lips.

* * *

"He sees as a wolf?" Scott looked at Gerard shocked.

"He's not always blind," Gerard repeated, proud of himself.

"Maybe we can use it against him," Allison chimed in, standing from her seat and walking towards the exit.

"Scott," Gerard held out his hand expectantly.

Scott stepped forward when he felt Jessie grab his hand behind him, "Scott." He looked at her, seeing something in her eyes, nodding before letting go of her hand to take Gerard's grunting in discomfort.

Gerard sighed when Scott took his hand back, "Oh, I think about you sometimes, Scott. I do. I wonder, what if I'd done things differently? Getting the bite to cure my cancer. And I wonder when it became my nature to believe that most things couldn't be asked for but had to be taken."

Scott stared down at the old man, "I don't believe you. The whole time that you were telling your story, I was listening to your heartbeat. It never went up. It never went down. It was steady the whole time."

"Because I was telling the truth," Gerard reasoned.

"Or you're just a really good liar," Jessie corrected.

Scott stepped forward again and grabbed Gerard's hand, the forcibly retired hunter groaning in pain, "If you lied and it gets people hurt. I'll be back to take away more than your pain."

* * *

"What?" Cora asked seeing some hesitant look on Stiles face as the three teens sat on the stone steps in the loft space, "What's this look on your face?"

Stiles looked at her, "What look?"

"The kind of look that makes me want to punch you," Cora deadpanned.

Stiles blew out air through his mouth in frustration, "Oh, my God. You are so Derek's sister. I forgot."

"Well, what is with the look?" Cora asked impatiently.

"I just don't believe him," Stiles explained. When Cora didn't look satisfied he continued, "Alright, in Ms. Blake's class, we're reading Heart of Darkness, and it's in first person, right? Narrated by Marlow. The thing is that he's an unreliable narrator. You know the details of it have changed, you know, because of his perspective."

"Well, we heard the story from Peter's perspective," Cora didn't fully get it.

"Right, and I don't think we got the whole story," Stiles concluded.

"So what, are—are you just going to ask Derek about the girl he fell in love with and then killed?" Cora asked in disbelief.

"If I have to," Stiles murmured, "Yeah."

* * *

Jessie sat on the steps in front of the Stilinski house. Stiles had gotten home a half hour later and she told him that she'd let him have his own bed for the night. She didn't think she'd be sleeping much.

Isaac sat next to her, staring numbly at his hands in his lap, "Is this really happening?"

Jessie averted her eyes, wiping the skin of her cheeks of wetness, "Yes."

"I can't believe this," Isaac breathed incredulously, "I mean, we love each other. Don't we?"

"Yes, we do," Jessie whispered to the floor, "But it isn't enough."

"I know..." Isaac rubbed his face with his hands nervously, "I think I know that. I just can't believe it. You're the first girl that's given me a second look before I took the bite. You're the first girl I fell in love with. The only girl I've fallen in love with, really."

"You're my first and only love, too, Isaac," Jessie told him, glancing over, "You'll always be my first love. And I'll always love you."

"I'll always love you," Isaac looked back at her, "Forever. But I know..."

"We've changed," Jessie finished, "I guess it's part of growing up."

"It sucks," Isaac chuckled painfully, "I'm going to miss you. So much."

"I'll always be here for you," Jessie reassured him, "We'll always be part of each other's lives... This is just the end of a chapter."

Isaac leaned forward and captured her lips with his, brushing them together softly and slowly. He pulled away, looking into her eyes, using his thumps to wipe the tears from her cheeks, "I love you."

"I love you too," Jessie breathed, "Goodbye, Isaac."

The teen wolf stood up from the steps and bent down to kiss her forehead, "Goodbye, Jessie," before walking down the driveway towards the street.


	15. Check

The engine of Scott's bike and Stiles' jeep broke the stale silence of the night as they parked and hopped out of their vehicles. Jessie climbed out of the jeep and looked to Stiles, "Where is she?"

"Over here," they heard Allison's voice. The five teenagers met up in front of the high school.

"Lydia?" Stiles asked the red head.

"It's the same thing," she told him, "Same thing as the pool. I got into the car heading somewhere totally different, and ended up here. And you told me to call you if there's a dead body."

Stiles did a double take, "You found a dead body?"

"Not yet," Lydia answered.

"Not yet?" Stiles repeated confusedly, "What do you mean 'not yet'? Lydia, you're supposed to call us  _after_  you find the dead body."

"Oh, no," Lydia shook her head, "I'm not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on."

"How are we supposed to find the dead body?" Stiles asked her incredulously, "You're always the one finding the dead body."

"Guys," Scott's voice cut them off, "I found the dead body."

The teenagers all stood with him, facing the Beacon Hills High School sign where Sheriff Stilinski's deputy was laid over, her blood dripping onto the stone.

Allison shivered in the night air, glancing around them when she saw something move in the tree line. A feminine figure all dressed with black with a hood covering her face stood at the end of the woods, just watching. Allison froze in fright, leaning closer to Scott, "Guys. There's someone watching us..."

The others turned their heads towards where Allison pointed. Stiles felt his eyes widen, "That's her. The witch."

The figure noticed that they'd seen her and turned to run off. Scott felt a growl build up in his chest as his eyes glowed golden yellow before he took off in a sprint for the figure. Jessie followed after him, matching his speed as best as she could. The others lagged behind them at human speed.

Scott raced even faster when he saw smoke start to lift off her body, the top of her head already disappearing in the night. He growled lowly in his throat when he finally caught up with her, tackling her body to the ground. She struggled against him with a whimper until he flipped her over on her back and ripped off her hood. He almost violently fell back when her identity was revealed.

"Georgie?" Jessie asked.

Scott stood up over her, lifting her up by her shoulders, "It's been you this whole time?"

"I can explain," Georgie squeaked fearfully, "I swear it's not what you think."

The crunch of leaves could be heard as Allison, Lydia and Stiles finally reached them. Scott stepped aside to reveal Georgie to them. Stiles gaped in shock, "Georgie?"

Georgie flinched at Stiles' voice, "Stiles—I can explain everything."

"You're the one sacrificing people?" Allison asked.

Georgie immediately shook her head, "No—I've been trying to stop the one who's sacrificing people. I find the sights of the victims. That's all."

"But you are the witch who's been showing up everywhere there's a dead body," Jessie told her.

"Yes, I'm a witch," Georgie admitted, "But I'm not the Darach. That's not how it works, you know that, Stiles," she turned to him, walking closer to him, "You know that. Remember what Peter and Cora said about emissaries. They are druids. And Darach is the word for dark druid. I was never a druid—I'm not a Darach. I'm just a witch."

"And you've been keeping that from me," Stiles accused her, "Why? You know what I know about werewolves and everything else. Why hide this from me?"

"Because I'm not allowed to tell anyone," Georgie whispered desperately, "There are laws we have to follow. No exceptions and harsh punishments if they're broken."

"She's telling the truth," Scott listened intently to her heartbeat.

"Please, Stiles," Georgie begged, "You have to believe me."

Stiles stared at her harshly for a moment. He couldn't believe she'd been lying to him this whole time. This whole time he was worried about keeping her safe away from all this supernatural stuff. All this time he'd been worried about her and she'd been lying to him about what she really was.

So instead of forgiving her, he slowly turned around, facing his back to her.

Georgie felt a sharp pain in her chest when he turned away from her. She slowly turned around and started walking away, smoke lifting off her body in the slow process as she disappeared from the group.

Scott stepped up behind his best friend and put a hand on his shoulder, silently telling him how sorry he was.

* * *

The next day Stiles stood in the halls outside on campus watching his father the Sheriff talk to a couple teachers about Tara's murder. He heard his dad excuse them and saw he was spotted. He tried to lift his backpack up over his head as a disguise and make his escape but he heard his dad call behind him, "Hey, hey, hey! Back it up!"

Stiles deflated and faced his dad.

"I know what you're thinking," The Sheriff told his son, "I know you've got all these ideas about patterns and people dying in threes-"

"Dad, murdered, okay?" Stiles corrected him, "Sacrificed, actually."

"I've got half the state, including the FBI, coming in on this," his dad told him urgently and quietly. "They're not getting away with killing one of our own."

"Dad, they killed Tara," Stiles reiterated to him sadly. "You know, how many times did she help me with my math homework when I had to wait at the station for you?"

The Sheriff sighed in his nose, knowing how right Stiles was, "Just, uh, get to class okay?"

* * *

Allison armed herself with one of her favorite Chinese ring daggers, about to exit her room when she heard a noise. She froze, slowly turning towards her window. It was open, ajar. But she had closed it. She slowly stalked towards the window, being carefully silent. She slowly reached her hand up towards the window, about to throw it open so she could accost the intruder.

But the intruder had other plans. They lept in through the window and grabbed the hand Allison gripped the ring dagger with. They twisted it behind her back and turned her body around until she was pressed face first into the wall beside her window.

Allison grunted in discomfort when she heard the intruder speak, "A little paranoid, huh?"

"Jessie?" Allison gasped as the vampire girl let her go abruptly. Allison turned towards her, seeing her suspicion was correct, "What are you doing here?"

"You weren't at school today," Jessie shrugged, "Figured I'd see what you were getting up to."

"Scott sent you didn't he?" Allison guessed.

Jessie rolled her eyes, "Even though it's over between you two, he worries. I'm here so he doesn't have to."

"I can take care of myself," Allison whispered independently.

"So you've demonstrated," Jessie agreed sarcastically.

* * *

"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes," Ms. Blake listed as she walked through the desk rows, "All tools the writer uses to tell their story." She paused by Lydia's desk, seeing her drawing a tree in her notebook, "Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

"You and every guy I've ever dated," Lydia smirked at her.

Ms. Blake grew flustered, "Oh, um, well, that was an idiom—by the way." She resumed walking, "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you knew key words. Saying 'jump the gun' is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like... 'seeing the whole board'."

"Like chess," Stiles said quietly to himself.

Ms. Blake smiled at his answer, "That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"

Stiles looked up at her distractedly, only too aware of Georgie's gaze burning a hole in his skull from the other side of the classroom, "Oh, no. My father does."

"Now, when does an idiom become a cliche?" Ms. Blake continued.

Scott leaned towards Stiles, "I think I can get to Ethan. I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."

"What do you want to do that for?" Stiles asked.

"The druids are emissaries, right?" Scott posed for him. "So what if the Darach was an emissary to the alphas?"

Stiles paused, "Okay, first of all, I cannot believe that we've gotten to the point where a sentence like 'what if the Darach was an emissary to the alphas' actually makes sense to me." He paused, sighing, "Second of all, we're gonna have a huge problem getting to Ethan."

"What's that?" Scott asked him.

"Going through Aiden," Stiles explained. "Ever since he's been back to school, they're always together. How are we gonna separate them again?"

Scot nodded thoughtfully, averting his eyes to the tiles school floor. Stiles and Scott's head lifted up as an idea occurred to them simultaneously, turning to look to Lydia who sat behind Stiles. Lydia looked up upon their sudden attention on her. She inwardly groaned, "What now?"

* * *

Lydia's lips attacked Aiden feverishly in Coach's office. She pushed him to sit at the edge of the desk and started lifting his shirt up. She paused when she noticed he wasn't moving very much into it and giving her a hesitant look. She pulled back, "What's that look for?"

"Nothing," Aiden told her quietly, "I'm just kind of surprised. You've barely talking to me since-"

"Since what?" Lydia snapped at him, barely reining in her emotions, "Since you killed Baako?"

"I told you that was Kali," Aiden explained patiently.

"I thought you were all Alphas," Lydia pointed out mockingly.

"Yeah, well, it's not as Democratic as it sounds," Aiden corrected her, "And if you're thinking I should be all filled with remorse—try and remember Derek killed Ennis."

Lydia glared at him, not the least appeased by his answer, "So it's his turn to kill someone now. Is that it?"

Aiden paused, questioning how that logic actually worked, "Maybe. Maybe like the time Derek and those other two betas tried to kill you."

Lydia stared at him in shock, "How'd you know about that?"

Aiden didn't get a chance to answer before they hear nails screeching against the frost glass window of the office and looked to see someone angrily carving a crooked spiral into the glass.

"What the hell is that?" Lydia asked dubiously.

"Derek," Aiden growled.

* * *

"Why are you even talking to me?" Ethan asked Scott, Stiles and Isaac as they stood in front of him in one of the hallways at the top of the stairs, "I helped kill your friend. How do you know I'm not gonna kill another one?"

Stiles tilted his head at the Alpha, turning to Scott, "Is he looking at me?" he looked at Ethan, "Are you threatening me? You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna break off an extra large branch of Mountain Ash, wrap it in wolfsbane, roll it in mistletoe, and shove it up your freaking-"

"Whoa," Scott cut his friend off, putting an arm out to hold him back, slightly amused, "Stiles, okay. We get it." Scott turned to Ethan seriously, "We're talking to you because I know that you didn't want to kill Baako. And I think that if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again."

Ethan hesitated, "You don't know what we owe them, especially Deucalion. We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"Then what were you?" Isaac asked, not really buying his martyr act.

"Omegas."

* * *

"Derek!" Aiden yelled, storming out into the locker room from coach's office.

"Aiden, stop, please!" Lydia tried to hold him back.

"I'm right here, Derek!" Aiden called out menacingly.

"I'll scream," Lydia warned.

"You want a fight, Derek?" Aiden coaxed, "Come and get me."

A body slammed him into some lockers. Only it wasn't Derek. It was Cora. And she immediately growled out, slashing at Aiden with abandon.

* * *

"In actual wolf packs, omegas are the scapegoat," Ethan explained to them, "The last to eat. The one who has to take the abuse from the rest of the pack."

"So you and your brothers were, like, the bitches of the pack?" Stiles summed up.

"Something like that," Ethan almost flinched.

"What happened?" Scott asked patiently.

"They were killers," Ethan answered, "I mean, people talk about us as monsters. Well, they were the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you just morph together and take them out?" Isaac asked, glaring upon the memory of how they'd attacked him when he got out of the bank.

"We couldn't, we didn't know how to control it back then," Ethan snapped at him.

"Deucalion taught you," Scott guessed.

Ethan nodded, "And then, we fought," he averted his eyes at the memory, "We took down the whole pack, one-by-one. And by the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life. And we tore him apart. Literally."

"What about your emissary?" Scott asked.

Ethan looked down shamefully as Scott gave him an incredulous look, "They're all dead? Kali and Ennis' too?"

"All of them except for Deucalion," Ethan answered.

"You mean Morrell?" Stiles asked.

Ethan was about to speak when he suddenly bent over in pain, "Ah!" clutching his chest.

"What?" Scott leaned over to him, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"Not me," Ethan groaned, "My brother."

* * *

Cora slashed at Aiden with only revenge in her mind. Aiden growled at her, his eyes glowing red, before he thrust his claws into her arms and tossed her away toward the sinks. She slid along the floor, smacking into the wall with a thump. She discontentedly got to her hands and knees as Aiden marched over to the weights, grabbing a disk in his hands, ignoring Lydia's cries, "Aiden, stop! Stop!"

He smacked Cora in the head with the weight disk, the object hitting her skull with a clang as she fell to the floor again, spitting out blood. Aiden was about to strike again when Scott, Issac, Stiles and Ethan raced in. Issac and Scott held Aiden back by his arms as Stiles and Lydia raced to Cora's aid.

"Stop!" Ethan shouted in his brother's face, "You can't do this!"

"She came at me!" Aiden growled.

"It doesn't matter!" Ethan told him, "Kali gave Derek until the next full moon. You can't touch him—or her."

Aiden's heavy and angry breathing only slightly lessened as Lydia looked up at him with fear and trepidation in her eyes. He inwardly cringed at her impression of him now, not seeing Ethan share a look with Scott as he nodded to the werewolf, roughly grabbing his brother and escorting him out of the locker room.

Stiles shared a look with Scott before he turned back to Cora, almost gagging at the gash in her head, "Hey, guys, I think she's pretty hurt."

* * *

"Okay, what?" Jessie asked Allison incredulously, "You think your father is the Darach sacrificing people? Your father?"

"No," Allison said, waffling, "I mean, I don't think he is at least. I hope he isn't."

"Allison, Scott told me about your father mapping out where the next sacrifices would be found and stuff, but that doesn't mean he's the Darach," Jessie explained, "It just means he knows something we don't. He knows about the Darach and what they're doing. But he wants to keep you out of it."

Allison waved the black light over the map on her father's desk, "See the mark? There are five more bodies to be found but it doesn't say who the bodies are."

"Because maybe your dad doesn't know the who—he just knows the why and where," Jessie pointed out, stepping back from the desk.

"What are you doing?" Allison asked her curiously.

"Taking a step back to look at the whole picture," Jessie explained, "Isaac picked it up from his dad."

Allison stepped back next to her, suddenly awkward, "I heard about you two... I'm sorry."

"You know what?" Jessie side glanced at her, prompting Allison to glance back, "I believe you."

The two girls shared small smiles before turning back to the desk. A pattern caught their eyes. "You see that?" Allison asked as she pulled the map away to reveal an intricate black Celtic symbol decorating Chris Argent's desk.

"Five fold knot," Jessie breathed, when something else caught her eyes, "Allison, the black light."

Allison waved the light over the wood of the desk, a word etched onto the surface revealing itself under the purple glow, "Virgins."

"Warriors," Jessie breathed as she kept waving the light over the desk, "Healers."

She moved toward the bottom, "Philosophers," before holding the light over the center of the symbol, "Guardians."

* * *

Cora flinched as she dabbed at her head wound.

"You okay?" Scott asked.

"She doesn't look okay," Lydia spoke up, crossing her arms.

"I'll heal," Cora pointed out, standing back from the mirror. She swayed on her feet until Isaac came up behind her to catch her. She shoved him off with a glare, "I said I'm fine."

"Do you realize how suicidally crazy that was?" Stiles asked her judgmentally, "What were you thinking going after them?"

"I did it for Baako," She growled at them accusingly, "None of you were doing anything."

"We're trying," Scott said quietly, a little wary of the angry look overcoming Isaac's face.

"And you're failing," Cora snapped, "You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed. But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies."

She stormed out and Isaac growled, storming out after her. He chased her down in the hallway and roughly grabbed her arm, slamming her into the locker and holding her there by her shoulder, "You think none of us care about Baako's death? Why don't you try looking Jessie in the eyes and saying that?"

Cora glared at him but he wasn't nearly finished.

"You think you were close to Baako because you spent a few months in a bank vault with him?" Isaac taunted her, "You think you were special to him? She is his sister! Whatever you were—it's nothing in comparison. Whatever you're feeling over his death is nothing—nothing compared to what she's feeling. And you want to stand there, all judgmental, like you're not just some stupid teenager too, and act like doing something as stupid as you just did means anything? You want to think she's not doing anything? Screw you, you're not worth half of her."

"Isaac!" Scott's voice reached them, "Let go of her!"

"Hey, man, calm down," Stiles pushed at Isaac's shoulder, "Calm down!"

Scott pulled Isaac off of Cora and Stiles and Lydia walked off with the she-wolf. "What the hell was that, Isaac?"

"Did you hear her?" Isaac growled angrily, "Saying we're not doing anything? Saying Jessie isn't doing anything about her brother's death? Where the hell does she get off saying stuff like that?"

"That doesn't mean you should attack her in the school hallway!" Scott pointed out impatiently

"She deserved it!" Isaac's eyes started to glow yellow.

"But this isn't really about her is it?" Scott guessed in a stern voice.

"What else would it be about?" Isaac snapped, his fist flying out and punching a dent in the locker next to him. He inwardly grimaced at the angry indent in the metal.

"It's about Jessie," Scott told him, ignoring Issac's scathing glare, "You don't have to pretend like you're okay with it just because you guys mutually agreed to break up. It's okay to get mad—just get mad at the right people."

"So I should go and get mad at Jessie?" Isaac sarcastically asked him. "Is that what I should do? How would that solve anything?"

"Attacking Cora isn't going to solve anything either," Scott pointed out. "And I don't think Jessie is the one you're really mad at either. You're mad at yourself."

Isaac scoffed but Scott ignored that too in lieu of continuing, "You're mad at yourself because you lost her. You loved her and you lost her—just because you've both changed. There was no fight to blame it on. There was no betrayal like last time. The relationship just ended. And you hate that it did because you loved her."

Isaac sighed, leaning back against the locker next to the one he'd punched, "Still do. Always will." He dropped his head, tilting it to look towards his friend/roommate, "It's Jessie, Scott. You don't just stop loving someone like her."

"I don't think she just stopped loving you either," Scott told him gently, "I just think she realized that it wasn't meant to be. And I think you're realizing that too. But your instinct is to fight it—and you're mad that you lost."

Isaac and Scott looked at each other, both knowing the truth of the situation. Both knowing that there really was nothing more to do but accept the cards they'd been dealt.

* * *

Derek watched from his seat perched against Marissa's headboard as she slipped on some jeans that had been a crumpled puddle on a cushioned chair. She slipped on some old toms instead of sneakers and sat next to Derek on the bed when she was done changing, "I'll be back in a few hours, okay?"

"Okay," Derek whispered, not wanting her to go. Not really wanting her to go anywhere without him. But she had her own life, her classes, that she needed to get back to. She'd spent enough time holed up with him away from the world. He needed to let her go. But he didn't have to like it.

Marissa hesitated on standing back up again, wanting nothing more than to curl back into his chest and stay there forever. But she needed to get back to the real world, "You'll be here when I get back?"

Derek slowly smiled at the hopeful tone in her voice, leaning forward to brush his lips against hers, "Of course."

* * *

Stiles' jeep sped across the three lane street as Stiles spoke to Allison and Jessie over speakerphone with Cora in the passengers seat. "Philosophers?"

"And guardians," Allison told him, a touch of hysteria in her voice, "Which after last night has to mean something like law enforcement, right?"

"You have to tell your dad now, Stiles," Jessie told her best friend begrudgingly, "I'm sorry but you have to. Do whatever it takes to get him to believe you but he needs to know what he's up against now."

"I know," Stiles sighed, "I'll figure it out." He lifted his hand to hang up the phone and then flopped it against the steering wheel in frustration.

"What are you gonna do?" Cora asked him.

"I'm gonna tell him the truth," Stiles looked at her briefly, "And I'm gonna need your help."

* * *

Ms. Morrell fought the glare under her tan features as she stared at Mr. McCall sitting on the other side of her desk, "Why are you bothering with me, Scott, when you know the clock is ticking? When you know someone else is about to be taken?"

"By you," Scott finished.

"Come on, Scott," Ms. Morrell grinned disarmingly, "Shouldn't you leave the interrogations to someone like Stilinski?" She rolled her eyes at the energetic boy's name.

Scott leaned forward, glaring at the guidance counselor, "Are you the one killing people?"

Morell stared at him, a deep line set in her lips, as she enunciated, "Are you—listening—to—my heartbeat?"

Scott listened closely to the steady pulse and thump of her heart as she whispered, "No. I'm not the one killing people." She leaned back, relaxed now, "Truth is, I'm all that stands between Deucalion and the lives of your friends. I've been the one pulling the leash taut when they're salivating for a bite."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked her.

"He wants a true Alpha in his pack. He thinks it's you," she revealed, "A little distraction like a few human sacrifices isn't going to dissuade him from the prize."

"I'm not an Alpha," Scott explained desperately.

"But you're well on your way, aren't you?" Ms. Morrell guessed, though she already knew the answer.

Scott grew angry, standing from his seat and slamming the palms of his hands violently against the faux wood of the counselor's desk, "Then what is he waiting for? What does he want me to do?"

Morrell stood too, firm not angry, slamming her own hands on the desk in a gentler yet firm manner, "He wants—to make a killer out of you. That's what he does."

"But if I kill someone, I can't be a true Alpha, right?" Scott asked, softer now.

Morell smiled, "Exactly. You want the psychologist's perspective? He's an obsessive—who both desires you and is threatened by you. If the obsessive can't have the object of his desire he'll choose to destroy it instead. You'll either willingly become part of his pack or he'll make a killer out of you. He has a similar plan to obtain his other obsession."

"What other obsession?" Scott asked firmly.

Morell grinned, her mouth slanting to the side, "Why—the Demi-Cruore of course."

"Jessie?" Scott breathed, horror stuck in his eyes at the thought of the Alpha of Alphas going after his best friend, "What does he want with Jessie?"

"The same thing he wants with you," Morrell told him scathingly, "He wants her in his pack—but she's in yours. He wants the only vampire in the world—the child prophesied to be the most powerful supernatural force the world has seen since Dracula and Lycaon."

"He can't have her," Scott stared at her, "Or me."

"Don't be so sure," Morell sat back down in her seat, crossing her legs at her knees, "You're playing his game. And while you're trying to figure out what to do next, he's thinking ten moves ahead, with checkmate already in sight."

Scott stared at her for another moment before letting himself out of her office, a little disoriented by all the new information that had been shoved between his ears. Deucalion wanted him in his pack—or wanted to push him into killing someone innocent so as to destroy his potential of becoming a True Alpha. And he wanted to knock down the dominoes necessary to turn Jessie into a vampire against her will and force her to join his pack too. But none of that could happen. He wouldn't let it.

_Scott softened, sighing, "You don't have to protect me."_

" _Yes I do," Jessie whispered, "I do. Your'e my best friend, Scott, I love you."_

She'd protect him. No matter what.

" _When is this going to be over?" Jessie whimpered into Scott's shirt as they sat on her bed among all the bank vault research they'd been pouring over._

" _Soon," He promised, pulling her up to look at him in the eye, "Soon this will be over. It's just one more adventure."_

" _But when is enough, enough?" She questioned for him, "I'm so... tired, Scott."_

" _I know," he cooed, "I know you are. But soon this will all be over—you of all people deserve the happy ending. I promise."_

_I half-smiled at him, "Thanks, Scott."_

_He leaned forward to kiss her forehead right on the scar from Allison's arrow, "You don't have to thank me for being your friend, Jessie. I'll always be your friend."_

And so would he.


	16. The Serpent Underneath

A hoard of students crowded the doorway of a classroom as Scott walked down the hall. He stared at the growling crowd confused when he saw Ethan standing in the front and heard Lydia's voice say, "I don't get why no one's calling the police."

He pushed to the front of the crowd and saw Lydia facing off with Ms. Blake with Aiden at her side, in his arms.

Ms. Blake surveyed the red head like a baby animal, "They're gonna make an announcement over the P.A-"

"That's not gonna do anything!" Lydia cut her off in a shrill voice, "I told you—he's gone. Like the others, taken."

Ms. Blake obviously didn't believe her, "Look, we're just trying to understand, okay? All we know is that Mr. Westover didn't show up for class."

Lydia stared at the English teacher, "And the last time that happened was Mr. Harris." She crossed her arms and asked smugly, "Any one heard from him lately?" At Ms. Blake's dumb look she added, "He's gone."

The girl turned and stabbed the chalk board where she'd written the number two down in the Celtic symbol, "And he's going to be the second murder."

"Lydia, you wrote that number," Ms. Blake pointed out patiently.

"Okay, fine," Lydia sighed, "I'm psychic."

Ms. Blake gave her a skeptical look now, almost locking, "You're psychic?"

Frustration built in Lydia's face under she snapped loudly, "I'm something!"

"What's going on?" Scott and Ethan heard Emily's voice behind them as she pushed her way through to the front of the crowd.

"Mr. Westover's been taken," Scott told her quietly.

"A Sheriff's Deputy and a history teacher?" Emily listed off, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Exactly," Ethan agreed, "What's the pattern?"

"I don't know," Scott answered.

* * *

Stiles paced back and froth in front of his father the Sheriff, muttering to himself, trying to figure out how to reveal the supernatural world to the older man. Cora watched him with sore eyes from his bed.

"Stiles?" Alec asked impatiently.

Stiles jolted at the interruption to his musings, trying not to spazz out, "Dad, I'm sorry, okay? I'm just—I'm trying to to figure out how to start here."

The Sheriff wanted to stay but he was literally against a clock, "Hey, I don't have this kind of time."

Stiles took a short breath, calming himself down, "Um, for the last year, you've had all these cases that you couldn't figure out, right?" At his father's unknowing look he continued, "I mean, all the murders involving Kate Argent, and then Matt killing all the people who drowned him, and all these murders now. It's like—it's like you've been playing a losing game."

"Stiles, the last thing I need right now is a job performance review form my own son," his father warned him.

Stiles wavered, realizing what that sounded like, "I know." His eyes fell on something on his shelf, "Okay, see, but that's—that's just it," he grabbed the chess board, "The reason that you're losing the game is 'cause you've never been able to see the whole board," he set the chess board down on his desk, "I need to show you the whole board."

* * *

Allison and Jessie stared at their phones respectively at their texts from Scott that Mr. Westover disappeared. Jessie looked over to Allison, "You got the text?"

"Yes," Allison whispered, "You?"

"Yeah," Jessie breathed, "Along with the little tidbit that Deucalion wants me in his pack as well as Scott."

Allison stared at her father's desk, "I have to stop him."

Jessie sighed, "Allison—it's not your dad, it can't be."

"Look at this," Allison waved her hands over the map, "He knows everything. He's—He's planned everything." Then something occurred to her, her hands flashing to her pocket to take out the folded up map she's taken. "There's gotta be another point on the telluric current from the school."

"Where Mr. Westover will be sacrificed before he's dumped," Jessie realized, helping her smooth out the map and run the dark light over it until the found matching points on the map, "These are new."

"That's where he is," Allison held her phone over the mark and snapped a picture to send to Scott.

* * *

The Sheriff stared at the chess board where Stiles had labeled the pieces with names, color coded and everything. "So... Scott and Derek are werewolves?"

"Yes," Stiles nodded.

"And Jessie is a werewolf?" Alec guessed.

"Uh, no," Stiles shook his head, "Jessie is a vampire—well not yet—but her dad was a vampire. And now she's the only one left but she doesn't have her full powers yet."

"Of course," the Sheriff muttered, "So Kate Argent was a werewolf."

"Hunter," Stiles corrected, holding up her purple name tag, "Purple's hunter."

"Along with Allison and her father," Cora jumped in with the explanation.

"Yeah, and my friend Deaton, the veterinarian, is a kanima?" the skin above and between Alec's eyes scrunched up in utter confusion.

"Well, no, no," Stiles countered, "He's a druid, okay?"

"Well, we think," Cora allowed.

"So who's the kanima?" Alec asked frustratedly.

"Jackson was," Stiles told him.

"And being the kanima killed him," Alec frowned.

"Jackson was the Kanima but in our effort to turn him back, he died," Stiles explained, "Peter and Derek killed him, trying to save him."

"Who's the Darack?" the Sheriff asked in broken English.

"It's Darach," Stiles corrected, "We don't know yet."

"But he was killed by werewolves?" his father clarified.

"Slashed up and left for dead," Stiles illustrated.

"We think," Cora emphasized.

"We think," Stiles repeated for her.

The Sheriff sighed through his nose, leaning back as Stiles watched him closely. "Why was Jackson the Kanima?"

Stiles thought about it, "'Cause sometimes, the shape that you take reflects the person that you are."

"And what shape would an increasingly confused and angrier-by-the-second father take?" he stared at his son.

Stiles deflated, "Uh, that would be more of an expression like the one you're currently wearing."

"Yeah," the Sheriff stood up, ready to leave.

Stiles jumped up from his seat, "Dad—Dad would you—I can prove it, okay?" He pointed at Cora, "Look, she's one of them. A werewolf."

"Stiles!" his father yelled, "That's enough."

He went for the door but Stiles interrupted him, "Dad, can you please just hold on?" He looked down at Cora, who seemed to be getting woozy, "You ready?"

"I don't think so," Cora sighed, feeling dizzy, "You gotta call Georgie."

"What?" Stiles snapped, getting angry at the mention of his girlfriend. Or... ex-girlfriend. He really didn't know right now.

"She's a witch, and if you are what I think you are to her, then she'll hear you and she'll come here and that'll be your proof," Cora explained, "Just call out her name. Now."

Stiles let out a breath through his nose before angrily saying, "Fine." He took a quick breath to calm down before stating calmly, "Georgie?... Georgie—can you hear me?"

The wind shifted in his room—though the window was closed—and smoke began to sift down from the ceiling, swirling like a mini-twister to the ground. It condensed and darkened as it started forming a figure in the room, color and form taking shape gradually and quickly until all the smoke dissipated and left the form of Georgie in it's place, "Stiles?"

"What the hell was that!?" Sheriff Stilinski shouted, breaking the stunned silence.

Georgie's attention snapped over to the older man, "Mr. Stilinski? I'm sorry if I scared you—don't freak out!"

"Now do you believe me, Dad?" Stiles turned to his father, "I'm telling the truth—I swear."

Cora stood up, "He is," and then promptly fell to the ground, fainting. The Sheriff rushed over to the girl, as Stiles and Georgie bent over her, "Oh my god."

"I can get her to the hospital," Georgie told them, grabbing Cora's arm and Stile's hand. The boy thought about pushing her off but instead took hold of his father's shoulder before he felt a light-headed feeling overwhelm him, watching smoke rise off his own body until it all went black.

* * *

Allison and Jessie drove in the huntress' car to the point on the map—the current taking them to an abandoned warehouse. "We should have called Scott," Jessie pointed out.

Allison gripped her ring dagger in her fist and hopped out of the car. The girls walked into the warehouse, looking around the wide open space illuminated only by the light of the moon.

"I heard something," Jessie whispered, "Clinking metal."

"Where?" Allison's head whipped behind her to look at the only girl, her brown curls dangling around her shoulders from the movement.

Jessie listened carefully, her head tilting her ears towards the sounds. Clink—clink—clink. Her eyes moved forward, "There." Allison followed her pointed finger, seeing a male body chained up against a metal fence, writhing weakly. Allison gasped when she saw the hooded figure behind the body thrust it's head from behind the man and reveal it's horribly scarred and disfigured face, screeching upon being interrupted.

Allison began to run for the man but Jessie grabbed her and tackled her to a nearby wall with her supernatural speed, "No, Allison!"

Suddenly Chris Argent stepped out from behind a pillar, yelling, "Get down!" his guns raised and aimed for the Darach, who screeched and ducked out of the way of the raining bullets. Chris walked forward, never ceasing in his onslaught as he walked, determined to take out this beast. He paused only to put more bullets into his silver handguns, and proceeded shooting after the disappearing flap of black fabric, "Help him!"

Jessie used her speed to get to the man faster than either Chris or Allison could, deftly unchaining him, "It's Mr. Westover, he's already dead—oh my god!" she had shouted the last bit.

"What is it?" Allison asked her.

But Jessie ignored her, instead pulling out her cell phone and hitting Scott's speed dial, "Scott!"

"Jessie!" Scott's relieved voice answered her, "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"We found Mr. Westover—but it isn't Guardians that are being sacrificed," Jessie rushed the words out frantically, "Mr. Westover is the history teacher. And I remember Stiles mentioned Tara used to teach middle school. It's teachers, Scott—It's Philosophers. And all the teachers we know are gathering at the school tonight at the recital. We've got to be there."

"Okay—got it," Scott told her, "Meet me there, I'll call Stiles."

"Scott?" Jessie's voice stopped him from hanging up.

"Yeah?" He asked dutifully.

Jessie took a deep breath, "Be careful."

She could practically hear Scott's smile over the wire, "I will. You be careful too. I'll see you soon."

She hung up the phone and stood up, facing Allison, who was arguing with her father.

"So it's my fault?" Allison was facing off with her dad, "That you've been lying to me for the past two months?"

"You wanna tally up the lies, Allison?" Her father shot at her, "I don't think you're gonna come out ahead on that one."

"Guys, not now," Jessie warned them, "We've got to stop the Darach from taking the third teacher. And they're all gathering like lambs to the slaughter at the school recital tonight."

"Guess we're going after all," Allison murmured.

* * *

In the midst of the rush to get Cora admitted to the hospital, Stiles didn't say anything about Georgie following him and his father in to get her the help she needed. The Sheriff was still dumbstruck about what he saw, but finally admitting to himself that he needed to listen to what his son was trying to tell him.

He sat quietly while Stiles explained the Darach to him. The sacrifices in threes. The end game. As he tried to absorb it all in a hospital hallway he noticed Georgie standing awkwardly off to the side a little ways down from them. She snuck glances at Stiles from behind her hair, shy and sad.

"Do you believe me now?" Stiles asked when he was done energetically and urgently explaining all his dad needed to know in a supernatural crash course.

The Sheriff was quiet for a few moments, trying to let everything sink in, "I... I think so... I'm still confused on some things. You never mentioned what Georgie is in your little chess set."

Stiles' face dropped as he heaved a sigh, knowing Georgie was behind him. He could feel her stare on the back of his neck, just like earlier in English class. "That's a little more complicated. Until recently, I thought she was completely normal."

His father gave him a look as if the idea of normalcy was ridiculous, "Son, if what you've been telling me is true, then I don't think anyone in this town is normal."

Stiles snorted derisively, "You're probably right. Georgie's a witch. It's just—she never told me until we caught her. Now... I don't know what's going to happen with us."

"It's not like she's the only supernatural person you're hanging out with," Alec pointed out, "I say give her a chance." He let out a breath and stood up from the very uncomfortable blue plastic chair, "Now I've got to get out there and stop this Darrack from getting another teacher."

Stiles didn't bother correcting his dad this time—in the grand scheme of things, proper pronunciation didn't really rank high on the list of priorities—and nodded, "Be careful, dad. Please."

The Sheriff smiled gently to his son's concern, "Always am," and turned to walk out to the exit.

"Stiles," the spazzy boy heard Georgie's voice behind him. He inwardly cringed at the sound and stood, turning to see her standing right behind him, a nervous and hopeful expression on her face, "Stiles, please let me explain."

"Why should I?" Stiles countered, not really ready to let go of the hurt he was feeling.

"Because you know I'm not the Darach," Georgie insisted, "You know that Stiles, I know you do."

"You've been spotted with the bodies," Stiles snapped at her, "I saw you at the pool with the first body. We saw you at the hospital when Jessie's dad was taken. Cora and Peter caught sight of you at the mall when we thought Derek was dead!"

Georgie adopting a confused expression asking, "What mall?"

Stiles gave her a look of disbelief, "The abandoned mall the outskirts of town."

Georgie didn't seem to be any less confused, "Why the hell would I be there?"

"Because that's where the fight with the Alpha pack was?" Stiles phrased it like a sarcastic question, not buying her 'confusion' for a minute.

"What big fight?" Georgie asked for clarification.

Stiles full-on scowled at her this time, "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Cora and Peter saw you there."

Georgie sighed, searching for an answer, "When?"

Stiles almost didn't answer, but now he was getting wary as she didn't let up on her act, "While we were helping Scott on the way to cross country meet. He got hurt in the fight."

Georgie paused then, thinking over his time line, before a look of realization overcame her face, "You mean the trip I was on the whole time?"

Stiles was dumb struck now, just realizing that Georige had been on the bus with them the entire trip. He had spent most of the time switching between pushing Scott to get himself help and stealing glances at her while she chatted with her friend. She couldn't just 'teleport' in a bus full of kids. And she was in the crowd during the fight.

Something occurred to Georgie, "That's where Scott's injuries were from?" She stopped, sighing exasperatedly, "Stiles, I'm not a fighter. I'm a healer practitioner. I cast the spell to heal Scott's wounds."

Stiles halted his musing, now the one giving her a confused look, "That was you?"

Georgie nodded, "I saw that he was hurt, I spotted the blood on his shirt and saw you guys go into the bathrooms at the pit stop. So I cast a healing spell."

Stiles thought back to that day, when he saw Jessie walking out with a healed Scott, and remembered that Jessie said they'd just suddenly healed before she even had the chance to poke him with the needle.

"You helped him..." Stiles slowly realized.

"I'm not evil, Stiles," Georgie begged him with her moistened eyes, "It's just that ever since the witch trials there have been strict laws to prevent exposure. And there are harsh punishments if we let the secret out without permission. I couldn't tell you." She paused, letting a lone tear scrape down her pail cheek, "Please—you have to believe me."

Stiles stared at her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes, weighing the options in his head. To trust her—or to not trust her?

* * *

Sonia Mortem rushed into a parking lot in the high school, her heals clicking against the cement as she stepped up to the entrance into the recital, graciously accepting the pamphlets being handed out at the door before she slipped through the crowds of tearful parents and united students. She dodged the tanned boy-wolf Sonia believed Deaton was wasting his time on. She stood in the back far corner, close to the exit door that led into a school hallway. She kept her eyes on the clock above, practically counting the seconds as the big hand ticked ticked ticked.

He black hair in tight curls was pulled back from her face haphazardly, the only purpose of the hairdo simply so she could have a full scope of vision tonight.

She kept her eyes trained for her sister—and the true reason she was here, the Darach. She kept her arms crossed, her nails resting on the black fabric of her simple long sleeved shirt. All she had was her cheap cell phone on her person, but she knew she didn't need anything special to face the monster that was sacrificing innocent lives.

She had her own magic to try out.

* * *

Scott stood in the back of the auditorium, his eyes scanning the crowd with Isaac by his side. He looked to his right and saw Lydia coming to stand next to him, "I thought you were going home."

Lydia, wide-eyed and downtrodden, shook her head, "I can't." She faced Scott with a hint of fear and doubt in her eyes, "I don't know why I'm the one that keeps finding the bodies. But maybe... if I just stopped trying to fight it—I'd find them before it happens. Maybe with enough time for someone like you to do something about it."

"You get me the time, and I'll do something about it," Scott promised her fiercely, "I swear to God, I will."

Lydia gave him a weak smiled, nodding as their hands cupped each others in friendly consolation.

* * *

Derek sat, a worried expression set deeply within his features as he looked at his comatose sister. Her lips were chapped and her skin was pail. He heard footsteps and the thud of the door opening and closing, looking up to see Marissa stepping back into the room with two cardboard cups of coffee.

"Still not awake?" Marissa asked concerned.

She came to sit next to Derek, handing him a cup as he shook his head, "No."

"She'll wake up, Derek," she promised, "And she'll be fine."

"How do you know?" he asked her, vulnerability evident in his broken whisper.

"Because I have faith," Marissa leaned in to kiss his cheek.

They heard a quiet groan then. Derek's eyes snapped over to Cora, seeing her eyelids fluttering as they revealed her brown eyes, "Derek?"

The Alpha stood quickly over her body, "Hey... Hey, I'm here."

Cora frowned up at him, the skin of her forehead fidgeting under the itchy head wrap, "What's happening to me?"

Derek wished he could give her a simple answer with a clear and easy solution. He had just gotten her back, and now it looked like he was losing her all over again. But he couldn't give her such solace as he whispered, "I don't know," but at least he could promise her one thing, "But I'm not leaving, okay? Not again." He leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead, swearing to himself that this was one promise he'd keep.

* * *

Somber faces of the audience matched the somber tones of the bands first number. Lydia felt her phone buzz in her pocket, reaching for it to read a message from Aiden, 'Need to talk to you right now'

The red head looked around, spotting Aiden sitting with his brother, before she quietly snuck off to the doors to step inside a hallway. It was dark in the hallway, and she could no longer hear the music. But the silence was deafening in her ears. She felt an ice cold grip on her chest and weight on her shoulders as she quietly stalked through the halls, her feet involuntarily bringing her to her English class.

* * *

Aiden sat beside his twin brother in the crowd, his hands searching his jacket pockets as his face seemed worried.

Ethan noticed the change in his brother's demeanor, "What's up?"

Aiden felt his jeans pockets, "I just think I lost my phone."

* * *

Jessie and Allison rushed into the auditorium, Chris right behind them. Scott recognized Jessie's breathing and turned around to see her, sighing, "Thank god," and rushing over to hug her. Jessie readily accepted the gesture, "It's okay—I'm fine."

Stiles and Georgie made their way into the room after them, Stiles stealing a hug from Jessie after Scott let her go, "My Dad's been let in on this town's secret identity now."

"He believes?" Jessie asked, slightly shocked.

Georgie looked sheepish, "I kinda appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of him."

The other four teenagers were wary in her presence. But Stiles sighed and stood up for her, "She's clear guys. We know the Darach is an druid and she's a witch, so..."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell any of you, it's just—it's just complicated," Georgie frowned.

"We get it," Jessie nodded.

"Did you get a feeling off the Darach when you faced it?" Scott asked quietly.

"It's someone we know," Jessie sighed, "Not very well. But they're angry—they're really, really angry and believe that justifies their actions."

"Well we're going to stop them," Scott promised her, taking her hand in his. Jessie's eyes flipped over to Isaac, giving him a small smile that he graciously returned. Her smile dropped when she noticed one thing, "Did Lydia go home?"

"No, she's right-" Scott turned to see Lydia had disappeared from his side, "Lydia?"

* * *

Lydia was about to call out for Aiden when the silence was broken by the eerie chanting she heard whenever she felt someone being taken. Her eyes widened in fear and dread as the chanting grew louder and louder in her ears.

A voice sounded behind her, asking, "You recognize it, don't you?"

Lydia whipped around, gasping at the sight of Ms. Blake, their English teacher, staring menacingly at her. She wasn't the nervous, scared little skeptic now. She was something entirely different. But before Lydia could even react to this truth, Ms. Blake hit her across the face—and everything went black.

* * *

Stiles and Scott burst out of the auditorium doors, Scott shouting, "Lydia!"

They paused in the absence of an answer and looked around the empty campus. Scott scanned the grounds with his super-vision.

Stiles looked at him, "Anything?"

Scott shook his head solemnly.

Stiles looked at his phone, "She's not answering texts. What do we do?"

* * *

The school band's playing started to grow more aggressive, jagged and quick as the tone of the music turned form slow and sad to dark and ominous.

Whispers broke out into the crowd between bewildered glances as the choir started chanting foreign words, their faces possessed by a darkness coming over them.

Jessie, Allison, Isaac and Georgie exchanged glances. Jessie adopted a serious tone, "You three stay here and watch all the teachers. I'll help the guys." She didn't wait for an answer before she rushed out of the room.

* * *

Lydia whimpered as her vision came too, slowly but surely. Her blurry eyes fell on her English teacher, all dressed in black, kneeling in front of her. "What are you doing?"

Jennifer's hands gripped the thick rope she was preparing, "What's necessary. I'm still surprised none of you seem to get that. You call them sacrifices, but you're not understanding the word." Gone was the patient teacher tone that hid years of insecurities. To be replaced by a malevolent and almost psychotic calmness, "It's derived from the Latin sacrificium, an offering to a deity, a sacred rite. A necessary evil."

"Stop," Lydia whispered, still blinking away the blurriness that she now realized was tears.

"Oh, I wish I could," Jennifer cooed, "But you don't know the alphas like I do."

"Please stop," Lydia begged.

Jennifer stood on her haunches, gripping the garrote and stepping over to stand behind Lydia's body in the desk chair, "But you, Lydia, you're not a sacrifice. You're just a girl who knows too much." She paused, a slight mocking in her voice as she corrected herself, "Actually, a girl who knew too much."

Lydia gasped as Jennifer reached to wrap the the rope around her throat, her hand just barely interrupting it's path. She opened her mouth, prepared to take a breath, ignoring Jennifer's warning, "Lydia, don't," before she let out a powerful scream.

* * *

Scott and Jessie flinched outside the auditorium as a shrill scream filled their ears, both reaching their hands up to block out the sound. They fell to their knees under the weight of the scream, not hearing Stiles calling their names.

* * *

Isaac gasped as quietly as her could, covering his ears inside the auditorium. Georgie and Allison peered at him, as did Chris. Georige asked him, "What is it?" looking around before she noticed Ethan and Aiden reacting much the same way.

* * *

Derek's ears perked up as he heard the echo of a scream at Cora's bedside. His head whipped jerkingly to the window, prompting Marissa to ask him, "What's wrong?"

* * *

Lydia was left with a gasping breath when she could no longer scream, dissolving into muted sobs as Jennifer dropped the rope limply against her neck and stared at her in awe, "Unbelievable."

The two-faced teacher stood in front of her, a look of disbelief on her face, "You have no idea what you are, do you? The wailing woman. A banshee, right before my eyes." A sinister grin enveloped her lips, "You're just like me, Lydia. Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it." She pursed her lips in faux regret, "It's too bad, though. And too late."

Lydia opened her lips to beg once more but she was interrupted by another feminine voice that cut in coldly, "I don't think so, Julia."

Jennifer dropped the duck tape she had grabbed, her mouth gaping at the sight of Sonia Mortem in the classroom doorway. "You-" Jennifer cut herself off, not wanting to show fear.

Sonia grinned, "Me," as she reached her hand behind her to swiftly lock the classroom door. Her face slipped into a cold mask, "You know—when I used the power of the Nemeton to save your life—I wasn't giving you permission to go on a murder spree."

"You don't know what the alphas are capable of," Jennifer glared at her.

"I didn't know what you were capable of either," Sonia pointed out, "And that's a mistake that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. But it's not one I'm going to repeat."

"You can't stop me," Jennifer warned her, "I've already got my last Philosopher."

* * *

Movements became blurry and faster and more aggressive as the choir chanting grew louder and more powerful. The crowd was beginning to panic when suddenly one of the piano chords snapped and slid across the pianist's throat.

The middle aged woman choked on her own blood as she fell to the floor when the music and chanting abruptly halted. The students and teachers on the stage blinked confused as if snapping out of a trance.

Allison and Georige rushed to the front of the auditorium towards the stage, Chris calling out his daughter's name as they reached the teacher's body.

They noticed something leaking out of the woman's mouth, Allison voicing their thoughts, "Mistletoe."

* * *

Jennifer and Sonia faced off in the classroom, the teacher gripping a dagger, "You know you can't stop me."

"I know that I can," Sonia countered, the ground beginning to quake under their feet. Outside the school walls, strong vines crawled up the brick, breaking in through the weak glass windows and bleeding inside the classroom. Jennifer felt the vines grow larger and wrap around her ankles. She looked down at them in anger, "What do you think you're doing? You know that I need to stop them!"

"We'll manage just fine without you," Sonia muttered, willing the vines to wrap higher up the other woman's legs. "Lydia, come here sweetie." She didn't take her eyes off Jennifer as the young girl frantically stood from the desk chair and stood behind Sonia, grasping her elbow and holding back her tears of fear.

Jennifer glared fiercely at the duo and raised her hand with her dagger in it, prepared to strike when she heard a voice shout, "Drop it!"

She twisted her head to see Sheriff Stilinski standing to her right with his gun poised and aimed at her. She smirked and instead threw the dagger into his shoulder.

Sonia reached for Lydia and quickly pushed her towards the door, "Go outside, get the boy-wolf and half-blood, now!" Lydia gasped and spluttered as she was pushed into the hallway, Sonia slamming the door after her and locking it, willing strong vines to rapidly grow in the crevices of the door so it couldn't be opened.

She rushed to the Sheriff's side as Jennifer broke free of the vines at her feet and the woman's distraction. Alec raised his gun again towards Jennifer, who simply grimaced, and laughed.

Outside the room, Lydia starred inside with tearful eyes until she heard Stiles and Scott's voices, "Lydia!"

Jessie reached her first, "Lydia, are you all right?"

"That woman—she saved me," Lydia whispered.

"What happened?" Stiles asked her, "Where's the Darach?"

"It's Ms. Blake," Lydia gasped out, still in shock, "It's Ms. Blake, she's—she's in there with the woman. And..."

"And what, Lydia?" Scott asked her.

"And the Sheriff," Lydia sobbed, "Stiles—you're dad is in there too."

Dread bled into Stiles' face and he began to pound on the door, peeking inside the small window to see Ms. Blake facing off with his father and another woman. He couldn't see the other woman's face behind her dark hair falling into it from a ponytail but he could see his father aiming a gun at his English Teacher.

The Sheriff panted at the pain in his shoulder from the blade embedded in his body.

Sonia focused all her energy to will the vines and roots from the trees outside to break into the classroom, shattering all the windows and ripping the floor tiles apart as they burst into the room and wrapped around Jennifer's body.

Jennifer simply smirked, and suddenly she wasn't Jennifer anymore. She was the Darach, the ugly, scarred and dark cloaked figure they'd been chasing.

Stiles pounded harder and harder against the door as more wooden roots cracked the small window of the door. Jessie and Scott stood on his sides and used all their strength to shoved the door open passed the roots and vines blocking it, hearing a woman shout, "No!" before they burst into the room.

Stiles pushed in front of Jessie and Scott as they surveyed the room, all windows broken, every broken by large roots that overcame the entire room.

Stiles stared in shock at the absence of anyone inside the room, "Dad?"


	17. The Poison and the Cure

Thunder cracked overhead as Jessie rushed into her empty house. At least she thought it was empty. When she arrived into her bedroom she saw Alex sitting at her vanity, hands wrung together, fraught with worry.

Jessie gasped loudly, hand to her chest, as she flipped on the light, "Alex! I didn't know you were still here."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Alex apologized, standing up with his hands up in surrender.

"Whatever, we have other things to worry about, The Darach just tried to off Lydia," Jessie told him, stripping off her jacket and tossing it onto her bed.

"What?" Alex gaped. "Why?"

"Because she can track her down, I'm guessing, and find the sacrifices," Jessie told him, walking into her closet to change out of her cold clothes and into some dark jeans, a black tank top and a black sweater. "It's Jennifer Blake, the English teacher—she escaped, and there's another elemental witch out there because the classroom was trashed with trees. But she manged to kill another teacher, and she took Stiles' dad."

"She took the Sheriff?" Alex repeated.

"Yes," Jessie confirmed, walking out in her new outfit. "So, we gotta find where she's gonna be keeping her new targets before they're sacrificed."

"Another trip along the currents?" Alex asked rhetorically, before sighing. "Jessie, I have to tell you about something."

"Can it wait?" Jessie asked him. "I've been having that sinking pit feeling about the hospital since the Sheriff disappeared and I need to go check on my dad."

"Fine," Alex surrendered, making a mental note to force her to listen to him next time he wanted to tell her the truth about her being the Demi-Cruore. The chosen one. About her prophecy. But he could see right now that she was in no mood to sit and listen. "I'll drive."

* * *

Lightning illuminated the groups of frantic people evacuating Beacon Hills Memorial as the wind rushing and whipped in their faces. A wayward tree branch crashed in through a window, startling many patients and doctors into screams.

Melissa shouted to the other nurses and doctors over the roaring wind, holding out a roll of red tape, "Okay, all medications should be sealed inside the plastic bags, and the patients carry it in their hands. When you've completely evacuated a room, you mark the door with a red X, okay?"

She handed off the red tape just as a doctor came running toward her, using his clipboard to shield his face, "What the hell is going on? The weather called for mild thunderstorms this morning."

Melissa nodded, agreeing, "And now they're saying power is already out in several towns. Hill Valley's under a flood watch-"

The doctor's face grew pale, "I live in Hill Valley."

Melissa frowned, "Are your patients clear?"

"Uh," The doctor hummed as he looked over his list, "All except for Cora Hale."

"Melissa!" the nurse heard the voice of her son's best friend and whipped around to see Jessie and a blond boy rushing into the hospital, "Melissa, what's going on? Where's everyone going?"

"We're evacuating everyone to a hospital downtown," Melissa explained loudly.

"Where's my dad?" Jessie asked her, fear apparent in her eyes.

Melissa took the girl's shoulders in her hands, "Don't worry, sweetie, he's already been loaded into an ambulance and out of here."

Jessie sighed in relief, the sound lost among the crashing winds from the storm, "What about Cora?"

"She's still waiting for her ride," Melissa told her. "I'm going to go check on her now. You guys wait here."

Jessie nodded and let the woman go.

* * *

Jennifer rushed into the dark bakery, the doorbell chiming optimistically under the looming thunder clouds, "Marissa!" Her heels clicked in the quiet bakery, squeaking against the clean dry floor, her being soaked head to toe, "Marissa, are you here? Something—awful happened at the recital. These students of mine attacked me—saying horrible things-"

She had headed to the back room, stopping short when she noticed Marissa standing there, Derek stood protectively in front of her with Scott and Stiles at his flank.

"What did they tell you, Mar?" Jennifer pointed an accusing finger at the boys.

"The truth," Marissa told her quietly, her hand clenching Derek's bicep.

"What—that I'm the one taking people?" Jennifer gasped.

"That you're the one killing people!" Scott corrected sternly.

"Oh, that's right," Jennifer started sarcastically. "Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense," she snorted derisively.

Stiles stared at the woman, a tear tracking it's way down his cheek as he demanded to know, "Where's my dad?"

"How should I know?" Jennifer attempted to employ an innocent facade. "Marissa, please tell me you don't actually believe any of this."

Marissa kept her face blank as Derek asked, "Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?"

"No," Jennifer answered quickly, almost incredulously.

"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia," Scott commanded.

"Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that," Jennifer argued.

"And what do you know, Jennifer?" Marissa asked accusingly.

"I know they can't prove any of this!" Jennifer cracked immediately.

Scott smirked, holding up a jar of ash in his hands that he swiped from Deaton, "What if we can?"

"What is that?" Jennifer asked, slowly realizing she couldn't get Marissa or Derek on her side.

Scott spoke as he opened the jar, "My boss told me it's a poison and a cure—which means you can use it... and it can be used against you."

"Mistletoe?" Jennifer growled just as Scott threw the ash towards her body. Jennifer screeched as she was enveloped in a brown cloud, her face reverting to a gray, dark cloaked and scarred figure with dead eyes, before the cloud dissipated and revealed the English teacher once again.

Marissa stared wide-eyed at the monster her friend had been revealed to be, for the first time seeing something other than a werewolf or a lizard creature. Jennifer growled angrily, turning to escape but Derek quickly caught her around the throat and lifted her so she couldn't move.

She gasped at the pain, hearing the slip of Derek's claws slipping out of his fingertips, "Derek—wait—wait! You need me!"

"What are you?" Derek growled.

"The only person who can save your sister!"

Marissa had opted to stay behind, telling Derek she'd go to the loft and get things ready for Cora when they got her out of the hospital. Derek quickly kissed her before shoving Jennifer into his Ford Escape and ripping down the pavement towards Beacon Hills Memorial, Stiles and Scott riding his tail in the jeep.

"You should know I'm not doing this because I have to," Jennifer spoke softly against the background of the pattering rain. "I want to. I could still run, and you wouldn't have an easy time stopping me."

"We're not the only ones trying to stop you," Derek told her. "From what Scott described of what was left of that classroom, you've got someone pretty powerful after you—not just us and some Alpha Pack."

"You need to hear the whole story, Derek," Jennifer pleaded. "You need to know just how connected we really are."

"Why don't you just shut up?" Derek suggested, leaving no room for any real nay-say.

* * *

"I don't know, something feels wrong about this," Stiles whispered as he tailed Derek. "You know, we proved everything to Derek and Marissa, but she still had this look—like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all still going according to plan." He glanced over to his best friend, "You saw it, didn't you?"

Scott didn't say anything as the arrived to the hospital. The boys squinted under the assaulting rain as Stiles pulled a baseball bat from the back seat. He raised his hands towards Scott when he saw the incredulous look he was getting, "What? You got claws—I got a bat!"

They followed Derek and Jennifer into the ER, Derek keeping a rough hand on Jennifer's arm like a leash.

"Scott?" Scott heard his name behind him, seeing Melissa running after him with Jessie and Alex in tow.

"Are you okay?" Jessie asked in worry. Scott nodded to her, taking her elbow in his hand when she reached his side.

"What are you doing here?" his mother asked. "The hospital's evacuating."

"We're here for Cora," Scott answered.

"What, all of you?" Melissa looked around the group. "Why does Stiles have my bat?"

"Mom, trust me on this," Scott implored seriously. "You need to get out of here, right now."

Melissa sensed his nervousness and sighed, "The building is supposed to be clear in 30 minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back. One's ten minutes out, the other's 20. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage."

"Got it," Scott told her, kissing her cheek before pulling Jessie away with the group, still keeping a hand on her elbow protectively.

They all clamored into the elevator, Jennifer glaring at the hand on her arm, "You don't have to keep me on a leash, Derek. I'm going to help."

She heard a low growling noise and looked to her left, seeing Scott glaring at her with Jessie at his side. She looked next to the girl and saw the blonde boy, Alex, innocently checking out his handgun. She looked over to her left, seeing Stiles gripping the bat up to his face, ready to use it. She faced forward with a glare, rolling her eyes at their antics.

The door opened up on Cora's floor, seeming empty and desolate. Derek kept his ears perked up when he heard some banging of a struggled. Suddenly the double doors ahead of them opened up when Peter's body was thrown into them, landing at Derek's feet. The older werewolf looked up at them, "We got a problem," he looked back over where they all saw the twin werewolves merged together in Voltron Wolf form, roaring menacingly. "Big problem."

Derek let got of Jennifer, immediately morphing into his wolf form, eyes glowing red as he charged for the twins. His body slammed them back a few feet before they got the upper hand, slamming their knee into his stomach and whipping him against the wall. Scott morphed next to Jessie, letting go of her and running for the Voltron Wolf before they could finish Derek off.

He used the wall to throw himself above them with his foot and swipe, but they ducked out of the way and clamped their hand around his neck, slamming him against the wall. Scott grunted in discomfort as he noticed Stiles, Peter and Alex rush behind them to Cora's side.

"Ethan, Aiden, stop!" Scott shouted. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"All we want is her," the merged twins growled.

"Hey!" Jessie shouted, running toward them and waving her hand out. The force glowed blue like her eyes and propelled the twins into the wall above Stiles and Peter's head. They fell to the ground, split back into their independent selves, panting in weakness from the attack.

"Could you stop doing that?" Aiden growled tiredly, barely able to lift himself up on his elbows.

"Where's the bitch?" Alex asked, holding his firearm up defensively.

Derek, Jessie and Scott all looked towards the elevator, seeing the doors closed.

* * *

"I can't get a hold of Derek, Scott or Jessie," Isaac breathed, having tried them all three times as the lights above their heads in the school hallway flickered again.

"None of them are answering," Georgie sighed, facing Allison. "Lydia?"

"She's got bruising on her neck," Allison told them. "They're taking her to a hospital downtown because Beacon Memorial is being evacuated."

"The storm's that bad?" Isaac inwardly groaned, worried about his friends and ex-girlfriend.

"It will be," Allison looked around concerned. "And I overheard an EMT saying the backup generators might be too old to last if the power goes out."

"Beacon Memorial," Isaac murmured to himself. "That's where Cora is."

"We should check on her," Georgie replied worriedly.

"Georgie!" she heard her older sister's voice shout suddenly, turning to see her rushing down the hallway. "I heard what happened and rushed down here!" She enveloped her younger sister in her arms tightly.

"I'm fine," Georgie told her.

Chris walked over, raking Allison's shoulder in his hands, "I'm taking you two home."

"No, I have to get to the hospital," Isaac argued.

"Me too," Georgie insisted. "Something's going on. And we need to stop it."

"No, I'm taking you home," Sonia denied her. "We are not getting caught out in the storm."

"Sonia—this is more than a bad storm!" Georgie told her. "And I need to find Stiles now."

"You can call your little boyfriend later," Sonia raised her voice. "We're going home!" She grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hall. Georgie would've used her powers to teleport to Stiles, but she was still surrounded by people.

* * *

Peter carried Cora as the group clamored into an operation room. Stiles looked around, "Where's Ms. Blake?"

"She ran off," Jessie growled angrily.

"What does that mean?" Stiles asked, raising his voice. "Like, she's gone?"

"Shh, quiet," Derek hissed at the boy.

"Me be quiet?" Stiles snapped at him, getting in his face, "Me, huh? Are you telling me what to do now? When your girlfriend's bff has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"

"They could be out there listening right now," Alex warned him, standing by the door with his hand up, poised with his gun.

"And they want her, right?" Stiles pointed out. "Which means now we don't have her either, so my dad and Cora are both dead!"

"Not yet," Scott appeased everyone. He walked to Peter's side, "Is she really dying?"

"She's definitely not getting better," Peter sighed.

"There has to be something that we can do," Scott said. "We have to help her."

The door son the other side of the room clanged open as Jennifer barged her way in, "You can't." Alex immediately lifted his gun to point the muzzle towards her temple. But she still spoke menacingly, "Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So, I'll help you but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."

"I'm starting to think it wouldn't be so bad if we just handed you over to them," Alex voiced.

"Me too," Derek growled, lunging forward to get to her.

"Derek, wait!" Scott shouted, pushing against the Alpha's chest to hold him back.

"She was trying to get out!" Derek growled.

"I was trying to keep from getting killed," Jennifer snapped. "You can't blame me for that."

"We can blame you for a whole hell of a lot," Jessie glared at the woman.

"If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her," Stiles pointed at Cora's body.

"Not until I'm safe," Jennifer insisted, a blank face to the emotions around her.

"We don't care if you're safe—you're a monster!" Jessie shouted at her teacher. "You try to justify your killing innocent people all around you just because your Alpha beat you up and left you for dead. None of that gives you the right to do this. And guess what, sweetie, others are after you. If the Alphas don't get you—the earth elemental that tore apart the classroom gunning for you will. And if they don't—we will. So, right now you don't have a lot of hands to play."

"Um, can I have your attention?" Melissa's stuttering voice sounded over the speakers. "Mr. Deucalion—excuse me, just Deucalion... requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the ER reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."

"He's not gonna hurt her," Jennifer assured Scott.

"Shut up," Derek snapped at her.

"He won't," Jennifer insisted, looking at the boy. "Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."

"What does she mean?" Derek looked at Scott, who was looking at the floor, still caught on the fact that Deucalion had his mother.

Jennifer waited for the boy to fess up, rolling her eyes in impatience when he didn't, "You're not the only one he wants in his pack. Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack. He wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of alphas to his ranks."

"A true Alpha," Peter breathed in realization.

"What's that?" Stiles asked hoarsely.

"The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another," Peter answered, peering at Scott. "One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott."

"And Deucalion knows getting Scott on his side is the only way to get the half-blood," Jennifer revealed, staring at Jessie. Alex shuffled closer to the girl protectively as Scott's eyes flickered up to meet with hers. "She'd do anything for him."

Jessie and Scott stared at each other, wondering if the time would come where that statement would have to be tested, both hoping it wouldn't. "That's right," Jessie finally admitted. "But it won't come to that. Scott's not a killer. And neither am I."

"We still need to get her out of here," Scott peered over at Jennifer.

"Scott, your mom-" Stiles began.

"She said there's one more ambulance coming in 20 minutes," Scott interrupted him. "And I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here."

"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out," Peter pointed out.

"He's right," Jessie confirmed. "I may have weakened them but they probably caught up by now."

"I'll distract them," Scott assured them all.

"You mean fight them," Peter corrected.

"Whatever I have to do," Scott allowed, just wanting things to move along before he got too caught up in the fact that The Alpha of Alphas had his mother.

"I'll help you," Derek volunteered.

"Um, sorry," Jennifer chimed in. "But I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek."

"Would you just shut up?" Jessie hissed at her. "He's not your freaking boyfriend." She turned to Scott, ignoring the glare she was getting from the fake-English Teacher, "I'll go."

* * *

"Where do you think you're going?" Sonia's voice rang through her little sister's dark bedroom as Georgie tried to quietly change into some clean jeans and a long sleeve V-neck.

"I'm going to Beacons Hills Memorial to help them," Georgie answered without hesitating. "They need me."

"We're not getting involved in this world, Georgie," Sonia warned her. "There are rules-"

"Cut the act, Sonny," Georgie snapped at her. "Because it's a little hypocritical," she grabbed a jean jacket and slipped it on, surveying her sister's slack jawed look. "I know what you did to that classroom, I know about all your little get-togethers with the town vet, I know you went to the abandoned mall where the fight was while I was out of town. So, don't stand there and tell me we're not getting involved."

Sonia was quiet, but her face was deadly serious, her hands cupping together in a pleading gesture, that was also stern, "You have no... idea what you're up against."

Georgie's resolve didn't crumble under the glaringly obvious fact of the matter, still determined, "Neither do they. Which is why they need my help. I can't just sit by and do nothing while my boyfriend's father waits to be ritually sacrificed and two other people wait to be taken. I don't care about the sacred laws—this isn't Salem anymore. And I don't care about our disgraced family line. I don't care about any of that—okay? I'm just gonna do everything in my power to help the people I care about."

And, faster than she'd ever done it before, she allowed the smoke to rise off her body in a flurry like a twister in her bedroom. Every dusty particle that lifted off of her, took a piece of her with it until she was nothing, disappeared.

* * *

Scott and Jessie peeked out the operating room double doors. Jessie caught sight of Ethan and Aiden waiting at the end of the hall, whispering back to Scott, "Ready for this?"

Scott responded by slipping his hand around hers, squeezing reassuringly, "Ready if you are."

Jessie gripped his hand back and pulled him after her in the hallway, "Boys!"

Ethan and Aiden growled, their eyes flashing stale red as they revealed their canines.

Jessie and Scott took their battle stances as the twins morphed together, charging for the duo.

Jessie lifted her hands, swiping them into the air and propelling the morphed wolf into the wall on their left. The growled as they tumbled to the ground. Scott ran for them and swiped at their face, getting in a good scratch.

Behind the fight, Stiles and Derek led Peter—holding Cora in his arms—out of the room with Jennifer trailing behind Derek like a clingy ex-girlfriend.

Jessie tried to lift the morphed beast up again, but she ended up lifting both the Voltron Wolf and Scott up until they smashed into the ceiling. Jessie cried out in concern, "Scott!"

Scott groaned and jumped up from his laid out position of the floor, "M'fine."

Jessie stared down at her hands, wondering why she couldn't get them to do what she wanted them to do.

"Get down!" They heard behind them. Scott heard footsteps running up from behind Jessie and turned to see Georgie lifting up her clenched fist in front of her mouth, "Get down!"

Scott acted quickly, wrapping his arms around Jessie's shoulder and flattening them against the corner where the wall met the floor.

Georgie unclenched her fist and blew some dome purple dust towards the Voltron Wolf. The beast couched violently, falling to its knees. It instantly split into Ethan and Aiden as they continued to shake with coughs wracking their body before they fell to the floor, unconscious and unmoving.

Scott lifted both him and Jessie up from the ground, staring at the twins, "Are they-"

"Knocked out," Georgie assured him, knowing he'd been thinking of something more permanent. "It shouldn't wear off for a while."

* * *

Stiles led the others down to the garage, inwardly sighing in relief when he saw the ambulance sitting out there, "It's still here!"

Alex watched their backs with his weapon poised and ever-ready as he stuck to the door.

Stiles and Peter frantically loaded Cora onto the gurney inside the back of the ambulance, before they heard Derek's voice call out, "Guys!"

Stiles stayed with Cora in the ambulance while Peter and Alex walked around to Derek and Jennifer's sides, seeing them staring at something. The hunter followed their eyes until he saw a body of an EMT lying in his own pool of blood.

"Julia..." a serene voice echoed in the empty garage.

They heard footsteps splashing from the front of the ambulance, seeing the ever-barefoot Kali twirling the keys in her finger. She stared at Jennifer with a subtle smirk, "It is you."

Jennifer edged behind Derek as Peter rounded Stiles back into the ambulance. Alex jumped in behind them, shutting the door after him. Jennifer leaned forward to whisper to Derek, "You can't beat her on your own."

Derek kept his eyes trained on Kali's advancing and growling form, "That's why we're gonna run." He and Jennifer turned on their heals and ran for the door back into the hospital. Kali growled a ran after them. Derek tugged Jennifer harshly behind him. She yanked out of his hold and ran towards the elevator, "Wait, wait! The elevator!"

Derek grabbed a gurney and wheeled it towards Kali. She roared when the metal slammed into her torso, roughly shoving it off to the side as Derek ran into the elevator with Jennifer. But the doors closed before Kali could get to them.

Derek and Jennifer panted against the elevator's farthest wall in tiredness. Suddenly the elevator shuddered, halting with a creaky groan as the lights shut off. A blue tinge enveloped the closed space as the emergency lights flipped on. Derek inwardly cursed his luck.

* * *

Stiles breathed harshly to himself, ignoring Peter and Alex, "Okay, okay, we're okay—we're all right." He looked towards Cora, "You okay? How you doing?" He paused as he took in her immobile form, "Why-why do you look like you're not breathing?" He stared at her, before leaning his head down to press his ear on her chest. He flinched back, "Because you aren't breathing—oh no. oh, God, no no no no."

"Do something!" Peter shouted at him.

"Why don't you do it?" Stiles snapped back.

"I don't know CPR—it's not exactly the first thing they cover in how to be a werewolf 101," Peter sarcastically shot at the teenager. "Doesn't that school teach you anything?"

"I know CPR," Alex volunteered. He knelt over Cora, tilting her head back and opening her mouth so he could peer into her throat, murmuring a, "Good," before pinching her nose, lowering his mouth to hers and blowing. Stiles sat across from him, fidgeting nervously as Alex repeated the process smoothly and quickly until he heard her suck in a breath and gasp. Stiles leaned back in relief as she went back to her unconscious state.

* * *

Derek tried to pry open the doors of the elevator, only revealing that they were in between two floors, with no space to crawl out. He pulled back to peer up at the ceiling when he heard Jennifer speak like the smart-ass she was, "If you're thinking service hatch, they bolt from the outside, so you'd have to break it. All you'd end up doing is creating a lot of noise, telling them exactly where we are."

"Kali already knows," Derek pointed out.

"Not necessarily," Jennifer shook her head. "She saw that we got in, but she might not know that we didn't get out."

"Yeah, well, if I get through, then we can go to another floor," Derek told her.

"Or you'd end up fighting them alone in an elevator shaft," she argued back. "They'll rip my head off before you even have a chance to land a punch."

Derek peered over at the small gap again, "Then someone needs to get the backup generator running again." He pulled out his phone, ready to call for help.

* * *

Jessie, Scott and Georgie walked off from the twins, Jessie asking the witch, "Why are you here?"

Georgie shrugged insecurely, "I wanted to help—and this was the last place I sensed Stiles. Where is he?"

"He and the others just got Cora to the ambulance in the garage basement," Scott told her. "He's safe."

"Is anyone really safe anymore?" Jessie asked sardonically.

Scott felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled his phone out and read the text from Derek.

"They didn't get out, did they?" Jessie asked, dreading the answer.

* * *

Derek felt his phone vibrate with an answer, and he read the text out loud, "Don't move. On our way."

* * *

Peter excused himself outside to keep an eye out for anymore surprise attacks. Alex volunteered to flank him by the entrance, pulling out another handgun in the process. Stiles leaned his elbows on his knees, feeling a crushing ache fill his chest. He peered at Cora, "You just hold on a little longer, okay? Trust me, if anyone's gonna get us out of this, it's Scott." He paused, breathing out in relief, "Can't believe I just said that."

Cora still didn't move, or show any signs that she even heard him. But then again he didn't expect her too.

"You know, I actually used to be the one with the plan," Stiles told her, a fond smile on his face. "Well, at least a plan B." He paused, his smile falling as he thought of the recent events that passed, "Now, I don't know. Now, I'm thinking maybe you were right. You know, maybe—maybe we are pretty much useless. Maybe all we really do is show up and find the bodies."

_Jennifer simply smirked, and suddenly she wasn't Jennifer anymore. She was the Darach, the ugly, scarred and dark cloaked figure they'd been chasing._

_Stiles pounded harder and harder against the door as more wooden roots cracked the small window of the door. Jessie and Scott stood on his sides and used all their strength to shoved the door open passed the roots and vines blocking it, hearing a woman shout, "No!" before they burst into the room._

_Stiles pushed in front of Jessie and Scott as they surveyed the room, all windows broken, every broken by large roots that overcame the entire room._

_Stiles stared in shock at the absence of anyone inside the room, "Dad?"_

"I don't want to find my father's body," Stiles choked. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He leaned back, adopting his usually sarcastic facade, "You know, you're a lot easier to talk to when you're completely unconscious."

Suddenly, the doors opened, revealing Peter letting Scott, Jessie and Georgie see Stiles and Cora.

"Georgie?" Stiles asked in shock, leaping down from the ambulance to wrap his arms around her. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Georgie answered, briefly pressing her lips to his before pulling back.

"Where are Derek and Jennifer?" Stiles asked Scott.

"I have to go back for them—and my mom," Scott answered.

"We both do," Jessie corrected him, giving him a look that said 'you are not leaving me behind.'

"Okay, but Kali has the keys," Stiles informed them.

"We'll have to get those two then," Jessie answered, tugging on Scott's sleeve. "Let's go."

"I'm coming with you," Alex voiced, putting away one of his handguns but keeping the other ready in his good shooting hand.

Scott and Jessie started to walk off, until Georgie chimed in, "Wait—I'm coming too."

"What?" Stiles asked, not wanting her to go. "It's too dangerous."

Georgie pulled out a leather bag that looked like a kidney-shaped thermos, "I have weaponized ash that can knock out all the Alphas—it already knocked the twins out. But neither of them can touch it or it'll poison them too. It has to be me." She leaned forward, kissing Stiles fiercely yet ultimately briefly, "I'll be okay—I'll be back."


	18. Mistletoe

Scott, Jessie, Georgie and Alex stalked down the hallway carefully and quietly. Georgie tried to use her powers to sense where Kali was so they could cut this all short, but she wasn't familiar with the she-Alpha enough to get any kind of lock on her. Just as they rounded a corner, a gasp was heard as Melissa ran into them.

"Sweetheart, you're okay!" Melissa cried out.

Scott hugged his mother to him, "Mom!"

* * *

"Anything?" Jennifer asked after a while of silence, Derek still staring at his cell phone's screen.

He didn't answer her with any comment, still staring.

"Derek?" Jennifer began tentatively. "I know what you're thinking. That I'm using you. That I'm evil... A bitch."

Still no answer.

She stepped closer, keeping herself from pressing up behind him as she stared at her reflection in deep sadness, "But I hope you're not thinking the most superficial thought... 'is that her real face?' 'The slashed, mutilated face revealed by the mistletoe—is that what she really looks like?'"

* * *

"You should have kept his mother," Kali growled slowly as she paced the floor of another operating room.

"Is that so?" Deucalion questioned her, sarcasm dripping from his accented words.

"You have a soft spot for him," Kali accused her leader.

"I have an investment I'm trying to mature," Deucalion assured her, turning around to face her. "If you want to talk about soft spots, let's talk about Jennifer Blake." He paused, noticing the shift in Kali's stature even though he couldn't see it, "Or what was her name again?"

"Julia."

* * *

"Julia Baccari," Jennifer stepped up next to Derek. "That was my name."

"I don't care," Derek droned.

But, of course, she didn't listen, "I guess I should have changed it to something with different first letters. I think I read somewhere that people always pick aliases that are subconsciously derivative of their original name. It's a way of not completely letting go of your identity, since your name is so tied to your sense of self."

She turned her body to face him, "Do you know what else is? Your face. The one that's supposed to be staring back at you in the mirror. Not some hacked up atrocity you can't even recognize."

"I still don't care," Derek insisted apathetically.

"But I bet you're curious," Jennifer tried to goad him on. "I bet you wonder exactly what happened."

"You were an emissary," Derek told her, only turning his head to face her, blank faced. "They tried killing you along with the rest of the pack. Mystery solved."

"I was Kali's emissary," Jennifer revealed. "And I was the one she couldn't kill."

* * *

"I didn't understand why I had to kill her too. She was harmless," Kali flattened her palms on the cold steel table top. "But I did it because you wanted me to. I did everything you asked to be a part of this pack."

"You did it to be with Ennis, so don't point that accusing toe at me," Deucalion replied, not impressed with her obvious distaste for his standards. "And as for harmless, how harmless does she look now?"

"I thought she was dead," Kali insisted, trying to hold back the emotion from her voice.

"Did you?" Deucalion challenged.

Kali slipped into an apathetic demeanor, "Are you asking if maybe there was a moment of uncertainty? That when I walked away thinking she was dead, that maybe I turned back?"

Deucalion paced in front of her, dragging the pads of his fingers on the edge of the steel table she leaned against.

"And maybe I saw her there, lying perfectly still, but I focused my hearing anyway," Kali slipped back into the moment, hating herself for her weakness and strive and hunger, that cost her so many people she loved. "Listened to the sound of her heart still beating, still fighting for life, and I thought, 'I could go back and finish it, or I could let someone I love die peacefully.' And maybe I just kept walking."

Deucalion leaned close to the side of her face as he made his way around the table, "My hear bleeds for you, Kali." Anger seeped into his calm tone, "Apparently hers could have bled a little more."

* * *

"For years, the Nemoton's power was virtually gone," Jennifer spoke, losing herself in the horrifying memory of dragging her near-dead body towards the stump of a great tree, "like the dying ember of a burned out fire. But a few months earlier, something happened that caused that ember to glow a little brighter. Something that gave it a spark of power again. The sacrifice of a virgin."

Derek looked away, inwardly cringing at the horrible thing he'd done to Paige all those years ago and the horrible, drawn out consequences it entailed.

"You didn't know what you were doing back then," Jennifer cooed. "But killing Paige in the root cellar, sacrificing her there, gave power to the Nemeton. You gave it power again. You gave me power. Just enough to hold on to life a little longer. Long enough to be found."

* * *

"He just let you go?" Jessie asked Melissa in disbelief.

Melissa nodded, "Said it was a gesture of good will. No other reason."

"He had to have a reason," Scott warned her. "I don't think he does anything without a reason."

"Well, if that means I should continue to be profoundly terrified, then don't worry about it. I got that covered."

Scott paused when he heard something. Jessie focused her hearing and heard some scuffling around the corner. She clung to Scott's elbow as they crept closer to the corner, turning it to see Chris Argent holding out his gun with his daughter and Isaac behind him.

"Jessie!" Isaac breathed quietly, rushing to her to hug her, just glad to see she was okay.

Jessie didn't let herself pull away too soon, glad to see that he was okay as well. Soon enough, they pulled away from each other, smiling awkwardly. Isaac tensed when he noticed the Wolfgang hunter next to her, "What is he doing here?"

Jessie regarded him in disbelief, "Oh my god—so not the most pressing problem we have right now."

* * *

"You know mistletoe is important to druids, but do you know the myth of why people kiss under mistletoe?" Jennifer posed the question for Derek.

"No."

"It's a Norse myth," she told him, a smile playing on her lips as she recalled the tale. "Baldur, the son of Odin, was the most beloved by the other gods, so much that they wanted to protect him from all of the dangers in the world. His mother, Frigg, took an oath from fire and water, metal, stone, and every living thing, that they would never hurt Baldur. At a gathering, they tested him. Stones, arrows, and flame were all hurled at him. Nothing worked. But there was one God who wasn't so enamored of Baldur. The God of mischief, Loki. Loki discovered that Frigg had forgotten to ask mistletoe, a tiny, seemingly harmless plant. And completely overlooked. Loki fashion a dart out of mistletoe, and it killed Baldur. Frigg was heartbroken. She decreed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would place a kiss on anyone who passed under it."

"So, now we hang mistletoe underneath our door during the holidays so that we will never overlook it again," the smile dropped from her face, replaced by a grim expression of vengeance and determination. "We were the overlooked—the emissaries. It was mistake Deucalion and the Alphas should never have made, because I made an oath of my own. From virgins and warriors, from healers, philosophers, and guardians, to loan me their power so that I could teach these monsters that their monstrous actions would never be overlooked."

"You killed innocent people," Derek snarled at her.

"So have you," she pointed the finger back at him, figuratively. "I know the real color of your eyes, Derek. And I know what it means. I'm not asking you to save just my life. I'm asking you to save everyone they'll ever hurt again."

"You can't beat them," Derek told her.

She smirked in response, "Are you sure about that? You know the Lunar Eclipse is fast approaching, Derek, and you know what happens to werewolves then, don't you?"

"We lose all our power," Derek breathed.

* * *

"So, then they're essentially trapped?" Isaac asked, following the group into another operating room.

"Right," Jessie confirmed, feeling anxious all of the sudden.

"There's no way of getting them out without turning the power back on," Chris surmised.

"But wait, wait, wait," Melissa chimed in. "If the power's back on, they're gonna hear the elevator moving, right?"

"And they'll be on Jennifer and Derek as soon as it stops," Scott said. "We can't get in a fight with them."

"Well, we could," Jessie mused. "I could distract them and Georgie could use her magic dust."

"I'm not putting you in danger, Jessie," Scott shot her down.

"You've got us now," Isaac gestured to himself and the hunters.

"It's too much to risk," Scott insisted. "They want Jennifer dead, and if she dies, there's nothing that we can do for Stiles' dad or Cora."

Chris squinted in confusion, "I don't even think I know which teacher this is."

Isaac started to describe her, "She's-she's the one with the brown hair. She's kind of hot."

Everyone, including his recent ex-girlfriend, gave Isaac incredulous looks at his description. He shrunk under their gazes, embarrassed, "It's ju-just an observation."

Allison looked around, catching a glimpse of herself in the reflection steel table, "I've got an idea."

"Wait," Jessie suddenly whisper-shouted, pulling out her phone and typing something quickly, showing the group an unsent text message that said, 'THEY'RE LISTENING RIGHT NOW'.

"Okay then," Allison breathed, taking out her own phone so she could communicate her plan to them without being overheard.

* * *

Isaac watched as Allison set up the huntress' phone on the floor, from his seat in Chris Argent's SUV. Jessie spoke to him from the passengers seat, "You ready?"

"Yeah," Isaac answered her.

"This'll be simple, just keep an eye out for her, okay?" Jessie prompted him. "Alex will follow us in his car to cover us."

"Got it," Isaac assured her.

* * *

Allison passed by the elevator Derek and Jennifer were trapped in, dumping her shoes inside and snatching Jennifer's shoes and her earrings as well. She quickly made the switch as Jessie ran to meet Scott. The Argent girl took a deep breath before she started running through the hallways, making as much and as little noise as she could, knowing a she-wolf would be on her heels.

She made it to the steps of the hospital when a window overhead smashed as Kali descended onto the ground just behind her. Allison swiftly pulled out her bow of flash bolt arrows and fired. Kali dodged it expertly, shielding her eyes from the lightning like flash of light.

Georgie ducked out from behind one of the front pillars, ready. She poured some purple dust from her carrier into her palm before blowing it towards Kali. The she-wolf spluttered violently, falling to her bruised knees before passing out cold.

"Good job," Allison breathed tiredly.

Georgie shrugged.

* * *

Up on the roof, Melissa made it to the generator switch, pushing it up so the whole hospital became flooded with light and power.

* * *

Tires screeched as Isaac drove the SUV into the garage. Jessie jumped out to open the back seat door so Peter, carrying Cora, could load his niece into the car. Alex pulled up right behind them in his car and jumped out, "Whoever isn't going to Derek's can jump in my car and I'll take them home."

Stiles jumped out of the ambulance when he noticed something on the papers hanging on a clipboard from the ambulance backdoor latch. At the bottom of the page there was a space for a signature. With the words, 'Parent/Guardian' written next to it.

Stiles piled into the car, "It's not guardians as in police enforcement, it's parents!"

"What?" Jessie gasped, thinking immediately of Melissa and her father.

"It's parents!" Stiles told her again, and loudly.

"Drive, you idiot!" Peter growled at Isaac.

"Not without Scott," Isaac said back to him.

Peter was about to answer when Jessie spoke over him, "You guys go and I'll go get Scott. Kali and the Twins have been dealt with so we're in the clear to get Cora to Marissa. Just go, Isaac, I'll be all right."

Isaac looked like he wanted to argue, but the part of his brain that reminded him that they were broken up now wouldn't let him speak up. So, he nodded, prompting her to shut the back door and run off back into the hospital.

* * *

Scott rushed onto the roof, calling out for his mother, but she was nowhere to be found. He froze when he heard the tapping of Deucalion's cane right before the Alpha of Alphas walked out of the shadows, "Guardians, Scott. If you were with me, I could've told you what it meant. I could've warned you."

Scott felt the breath leave him with the realization that Jennifer took his mother. His mom that he was supposed to protect with everything. The woman he meant to keep out of this whole supernatural mess. And now he'd dragged her right in the middle of it and put her in danger.

"Let me help you, Scott," Deucalion appealed to the True Alpha. "You help me catch her, and I'll help you get your mother and Stiles' father back."

Scott weighed his options, but he didn't really see any other paths in front of him other than this one. He didn't see any other choice as he took one step closer to Deucalion, the monster who'd started this whole mess.

"Scott..." he heard Jessie's breathless voice behind him.

The weight on his heart just grew heavier, knowing she was here now to witness him crumbling to Deucalion's whims.

"Scott, what are you doing?" Jessie asked quietly, looking between her best friend and the apex predator. She let out a shaky breath when she realized what was happening, "No... Scott, you can't go with him."

"I don't know what else to do," Scott told her painfully.

"No, Scott," Jessie lept forward, keeping her hands on the sides of his neck and forcing him to look into her eyes, "This is not the way. He's not the way. I'm sorry—I'm sorry about your mom. But we have to find something else to do—like we always do."

"Not this time," he whispered to her, knowing the words must be breaking her heart. "Tell Stiles' I'm gonna find his dad."

Jessie shook her head deliriously as a tear fell from her eye, "No... Scott, don't go."

Not being able to bear this goodbye any longer, Scott tugged her hands away from his neck, leaning down to kiss her cheek as slowly as he could handle, and then turned around, hating himself for how she must be feeling right now, watching him walk off and disappear into the fog with Deucalion.


	19. Synchronicity in Sacrifice

"Derek?" Derek heard a tearful voice crying above him, echoing in his ears like a dream. As he blinked, he heard her speak louder, and more choked up. "Derek, please wake up. We need to get out of here!"

Derek groaned as the blurry outline of Jessie's face came into view slowly but surely, "Where is she? Jennifer?"

Jessie sighed, "She took Scott's mom and ran for it." She roughly pulled Derek up, supporting his back the best she could, "And Scott left with Deucalion."

"What?" Derek gasped.

Jessie wiped the tears from under her eyes, smearing her minimal eye makeup without caring, "We have to go. By now, I'm sure the police are on their way. We need to go—now."

"What about Cora?"

* * *

Stiles reclined in one of the hallway hospital chairs, his arm resting loosely around Jessie's shoulders as she rested her elbows on the tops of her knees. Her face was dry of tears now but the evidence was clearly there, anyone would know she'd been crying. Stiles caught sight of an FBI Agent entering the ER and cursed under his breath, "Perfect."

Jessie looked up at him, "What is it?"

Before she could get an answer though, the FBI Agent made his way over to them with a severely unimpressed expression on his face, "A Stilinski at the center of this whole mess. What a shocker. Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"

Stiles shrugged, answering sarcastically as he could, "If you ask the questions without the usual level of stupid."

The Agent's face froze, growing stone cold, "Where's your dad, and why has no one been able to contact him?"

"I don't know," Stiles said. "I haven't seen him in hours."

"Is he drinking again?"

"Again?" Jessie interrupted. "Wait—I'm confused. Do you two know each other?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Stiles leaned back to face her. "This ass-hat is Scott's father."

Jessie stared up at the Agent in shock, "You're Scott's father? What the Hell are you doing here?"

"Asking the questions," he replied bluntly. "How about you just tell me what happened here?"

"We don't know," Jessie told him with mild exasperation in her tone. "We got trapped in the elevator during the power outage. We didn't see anything."

"Then why have you been crying?" he bluntly asked her.

She faltered slightly, "It's a bit scary being trapped in a small dark place hearing God-knows-what going out outside."

"You're not the ones who put the name on the doors, are you?"

"What name?" Stiles asked slowly.

Jessie closed her eyes, intrinsically knowing the answer she didn't know a few seconds ago, "Argent."

* * *

"So, what are you gonna do?" Isaac asked quietly over the sounds of Cora's ragged breathing as Derek sat at her side and Marissa checked over the young she-wolf.

"I don't know," Derek whispered.

Isaac didn't want to accept that, "Want to figure something out? Because while Scott and Stiles were out there trying to help people from being killed, you were in here, hiding."

Cora's breath hitched when Marissa prodded a certain spot on her chest, but Marissa glanced over the spot, trying to reach into her medical knowledge for something that could help. But she had no experience with this.

"Do you get how many people have been killed?" Isaac posed for Derek. "Erica and Baako are dead—Cora is dying—and you are doing nothing!" He finger angrily jabbed at the air in front of Derek's face as his voice rose in rage. He straightened up from his offensively crouched position, Derek still sitting unmoving from his spot, staring down at his sister. "Why'd you do this to us, Derek? Was it all about power? Were you bored?... Were you lonely?"

Derek's eyes flew up to meet Marissa's at the word. She'd often pointed out that he was lonely. That he was unwilling to accept love so instead he accepted power. But he took a chance on her. So far, it hadn't backfired. So far.

"Maybe."

Isaac took a step back, starting to walk towards the door.

"I told Cora I wouldn't leave," Derek told his beta. "I'll help the others when I figure out how to help her."

"There's no time!" Isaac shouted, his words echoing roughly in the loft space as he whipped around to face his Alpha-for now. "The full moon's coming. The Sheriff and Melissa are gonna be dead, so I'm gonna try and help them. You can sit here and perfect the art of doing nothing." He harshly opened and slammed the door shut after he stormed out.

"Derek, he's just angry at the situation," Marissa told him. They heard the door open again a few moments later and the nurse looked up to see the witch girl, Georgie walk in. She held up a small satchel, "I grabbed as much herbs I could find in my house. Sonia's shop is locked up—and she wasn't home."

"Isn't she your legal guardian?" Marissa asked the small girl. "Are you worried she could be the third Guardian?"

Goerige shook her head, "Our house is littered with wards against anything evil—and so is her shop. Nothing is gonna get in there. Plus, she left a note, saying she went out and I'm grounded."

"At least she's safe," Marissa shrugged.

* * *

"The word is guardian, Allison," Chris Argent told his daughter as she, Stiles and Jessie followed the hunter into his study. "More than anyone, you know that's a role I haven't exactly lived up to lately."

"But she took Scott's mother and Stiles' father," Allison pointed out to her dad. "That's not a coincidence."

"Your name is painted up on the elevator doors, Chris," Jessie backed Allison up. "That's a warning—a blatant one at that."

"I think it might be Morrell," Allison told them, referring to the ever elusive and cryptic guidance counselor. "She knows a lot more than she lets on, and she might even be trying to help us."

"There's a reason Deucalion kept her alive though," Jessie murmured. "Who knows who's side she's on."

"If she wants to help us, though, she needs to get on that a lot faster, okay?" Stiles but in. "Seeing as how the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away." The spastic boy collapsed into a chair, sighing heavily as Jessie put a hand on his shoulder, "Stiles—we can't give up."

"They could already be dead," he pointed out weakly.

"I don't think so," Chris shook his head. "There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning, still moving pieces into place."

"And you're one of them," Allison reiterated, leaning her palms on her father's desk.

"Then let's not wait around to see the next move," he answered, whipping out his map of the telluric currents. "Everything she's done has been on a telluric current, so Melissa and the Sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents, right? Stiles, if we're gonna find them, we need your help."

"You're seriously going to go after her?" Stiles asked the hunter. "I mean—what if she just takes you like the others, huh? No offense, but what's the difference between you and them?"

Chris held up his particularly impressive handgun, "I've got a .45. Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face, but personally, I'd like to see how she holds up with half her skull blown off." He set the gun down, "We've got one priority right now, and that is to find Melissa and your dad. We've got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The only thing we don't have is time, which is why I need all of you."

Jessie nodded, ready to get Scott back, and that meant getting his mom back. And getting Stiles' father back. "Okay—so, we start with the currents—there's three points on each one. Where they disappear, where they're sacrificed and where they're found. We need to get to them in the middle like we got to Deaton and my dad."

Chris agreed, "I think the placement has to do with the strength of the current, so there's the school, the animal clinic, the bank."

"Wait a sec," Stiles cut in. "She wouldn't use the same place twice, would she?"

"Only if she didn't succeed the first time," Chris told him.

"Deaton," Jessie breathed. "Her second failure."

"Where was your father found?" Allison asked the girl.

Jessie shrugged, "Alex never mentioned where they found him."

"Maybe we should ask him," She suggested.

Jessie nodded, "That only gives us two places to check out."

"We're gonna need a lot more help," Chris guessed.

"Lydia then," Jessie said.

"Lydia?" Chris asked. "What can she do?"

Stiles cleared his throat, "Uh, Lydia's got sort of a talent. She somehow ended up finding a couple of the bodies, um, without actually looking for them."

"What is she?" Chris asked. "Psychic?"

"She's something," Stiles muttered.

"She's a banshee," Jessie answered. "And we're only just starting to understand what that means."

"Let's get ready," Allison goaded them. Chris picked up a large black case, opening it up to some large guns as Allison practiced tossing some ring daggers in her hands before latching them to her hip.

Stiles looked around at the hunters, "I thought you guys were retired."

"Retired, yes—Defenseless, no," Chris told him.

Jessie wrapped her arms around herself as Chris kept speaking to Stiles. She heard him mention Scott. She heard him defend Scott's actions. But the words didn't register in her ears, instead the space in her attention span was overcome with this sense of dread, foreboding. She felt her fingers grip her arms but she wasn't aware of why she made them do so. She knew she took a few steps back until her back hit the far wall. She was only just aware of Stiles' voice calling her name, getting louder and louder, clearer and clearer until finally – "Jessie!"

Her eyes snapped up to those of her best friend's, "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?" Stiles asked her. "You're shaking."

Jessie looked down at her hands still gripping her elbows tightly, abruptly releasing them. "Stiles?"

Stiles was more than ready to answer her, "What is it?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat, "No—nothing. We should head out."

They heard someone walk into the room, turning to see Isaac standing in the door way, "I can't shoot a gun or use a cross bow, but," He paused, letting his claws slip out of his left hand to display to them, "I'm getting pretty good with these."

* * *

"I've heard of something only an Alpha can do—and with good reason," Peter's voice lightly echoed off in the walls of the apartment as Derek took away some of Cora's pain.

"What is it?" Derek asked impatiently.

"You know normal wolves never abandon an injured member of the pack," Peter started off with some background information, causing Georgie and Derek to grow more impatient. But they didn't interrupt him. "They care for it. They bring it food from a kill and then regurgitate into the mouth of the injured wolf. They even give it physical and emotional comfort by intensely grooming it. In a way, they can do more than just ease pain. They can be instrumental in healing their own."

"Why don't you just get to the point?" Marissa goaded him with a sudden backbone, even though the thought of Peter still terrifies her after Derek filled her in on what he did as the Alpha last year. "Can Derek heal her?"

"I'm telling you..." Peter trailed off, a bit miffed at her attitude, "I've heard it's possible."

"How?" Derek asked, willing to do anything to save the sister he just got back.

"It's that spark of power that makes you an Alpha," Peter revealed. "When you take her pain, she draws on the power that provides you with those special gifts. The power that heightens your senses, your strength. The power that transforms your body. As an Alpha, you have that bit of extra, that spark intensifies the color of your eyes from a bright yellow into a searing red."

"If I can save her..." Derek started.

" _If_ ," Georgie interrupted. "I've read all about that process, it fails way more than it works. It would most likely kill you, Derek."

The Alpha was quiet. Then he turned his head stiffly to look at Peter, "How do I do it? By taking her pain?"

"And then some," Peter answered. "Because there's a cost."

* * *

Chris, Allison and Issac went to the bank vault. Allison led them into the room the Alphas had kept Baako, Erica and Cora inside and later Jennifer tried to sacrifice Deaton. They walked in looking around. Allison commented, "It's empty."

"Be careful anyway," he warned, whipping out his electric baton.

Isaac eyed it curiously, "I thought you only used those on werewolves."

Electrcity crackled on the weapon as the older man answered, "I do," abruptly pressing it to the werewolf's chest, causing him to seize and fall down, disoriented. He grabbed his daughter's arm and deftly handcuffed her to the bars next to her.

She gave him an incredulous look, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry," he told her. "But you're just gonna have to trust me on this. I knew for a long time she didn't just operate on the currents. She was in sync with them."

He stepped away form her as she heard a faint whirring sound. She watched her father the great hunter stand in the middle of the vault and drop his weapons and wait to be taken.

Her eyes widened when Jennifer Blake slowly walked into the room, an impressed grin etching its way onto her face, "Now  _this_  is a sacrifice."

* * *

"I don't believe it," Lydia insisted when Stiles and Jessie caught her up on all that happened. "Scott can't really be with them. He can't be."

"He didn't see any other way out of this," Jessie defended him. "You should have seen his face. He was so defeated, and he just..."

Stiles put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

"What can I do?" Lydia asked, ready to help. "I mean, I get that I'm some kind of, like, human Geiger counter for death, but... I don't know how to turn it on and off yet. All I know is that she tried to kill me because of..." she broke off, suddenly staring off to space.

Stiles waved his hand in front of her face, "Because of what? Lydia?"

She broke out of her trance, her face falling, "When she called me a banshee, she was surprised by it. What if that's not why she tried to kill me?"

"Did she say anything at all that could help us find out why she wanted to kill you?" Jessie asked the girl.

"Because you know too much," a feminine voice cut into their conversation, clicking heals accompanying each word.

The teens looked over to see the tall woman with dark brown curls waling down to them with Emily at her side.

"You," Lydia greeted, her eyes wide and her mouth ajar as she stared at the woman in shock, confusing Jessie and Stiles. "You're the woman who saved me."

Stiles chuckled, "Um, no, Lydia this is Sonia. Georgie's sister." He looked at the woman in question, "What are you doing here? Georgie went to Derek's."

"I know," Sonia answered distastefully. "I'm here to tell you that I can save your parents. I can kill Julia."

"Who is Julia?" Emily asked.

"That's Jennifer's real name," Sonia explained. "She was Kali's emissary. Under Deucalion's order, Kali murdered her whole pack, but when she went for Julia, she didn't finish the job. She would have bled to death if I hadn't let her tap into the Nemeton's to save her life."

"Excuse me, let her?" Jessie questioned. "What do you mean by let her?"

"The Nemeton is a very sacred and powerful entity," Sonia stated slowly. "It needs protectors, guardians. People like me make sure that others don't take advantage of it. I allowed Julia to use what power it had left to heal her. Now... now she's given power back to it with these sacrifices to use it for her own gain. And it's my job to stop her. And I can. But I need you guys to help me."

"How do we help you with that?" Stiles asked, gesturing around the group.

"Focus solely on finding your parents," Sonia told them sternly. "Leave the Alphas to Scott and Derek and his little pack. But if Jennifer successfully sacrifices Stilinski, McCall and Argent then she may too powerful for me to handle."

"What?" Stiles gaped at her. "Argent?"

Sonia seemed vaguely confused, "You don't know? Chris Argent has been taken."

* * *

Isaac grunted under the strain of using his strength to break Allison out of her bonds as she stared blankly towards the spot her father had stood.

Eventually the metal cuffs gave way and Allison was free, stumbling, "Why did he do that?"

"I don't know," Isaac shook his head. "But we need to go. Okay? We need help."

Allison nodded, sighing through her nose as she fought back tears, "They're all gonna die. Aren't they?"

* * *

Alex quickly gathered all of Jessie's journals and papers and research and stuffed them into a large suit case. He frantically pulled down her lists from the walls, stacked her family diaries and her Grimm Bestiary and placed them into the empty case.

He paused when he saw the folder he stolen from his father, sitting comfortably on her night stand, the sides well worn from her holding it and looking through it every night. He grabbed that too and put it on top of the rest.

He zipped up the case and lugged it upright onto the floor, rolling it right down to her living room and out the door. He threw it back into the trunk of his car, using a wool blanket to cover it up. He slammed the trunk door shut and got into the drivers seat, driving off.

* * *

"What?" Stiles gaped at Sonia, feeling the walls closing around him as his vision tunneled.

"Stiles?" Jessie tried to get his attention, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Stiles? He's having a panic attack."

"Let's get him out of here," Lydia said, ushering Stiles into the locker room next to them. Jessie and Sonia followed, the former kneeling in front of her best friend and trying to hold his face steady as he stumbled and panted, hyperventilating.

"Just try and think about something else, anything else," Lydia tried to soothe him.

"Like what?" he gasped.

"Happy things, good things," she told him. "Uh, friends, family."

Stiles blanched along with Jessie. The vampire grimaced, "Not family. Hold your breath."

"What?" Stiles faced her. "I can't—I can't"

"Kiss him," Lydia called to Jessie. "Kiss him—He'll hold his breath."

Jessie really didn't want to kiss Stiles, but he was her best friend and he needed to calm down. She was sure Georgie would understand. So, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. His breath stuttered and then stopped. Their lips paused on each other's until Jessie pulled away, happy to see Stiles calm and normal. Well, normal for Stiles.

He fell against some lockers and looked between Lydia and Jessie, "Thanks."

"Pretty smart, Lydia," Jessie commented, looking back at the girl.

The red head crouched down next to them, "I just... I don't know. I just read it somewhere. And if I was really smart, I would tell you to sign up for a few sessions with a guidance counselor."

The teens chuckled. But Stiles face went blank until a light bulb went off over his head, "Morrell."

* * *

Lydia, Jessie and Stiles piled into Morrell's office, Sonia standing guard outside the doors. Stiles turned to see Danielle – Heather's best friend before the poor girl was sacrificed – sitting patiently in the chair in front of Morrell's desk, "Are you here for Ms. Morrell?"

She gave him a look, droning her answer with extra sarcasm, "No, I thought this was gym class."

Lydia's lips smacked into a straight line, "Sweetheart, we're not in the mood for funny. Do you know where she is?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be waiting here for 20 minutes. So, how about you two back out the door and wait your turn?"

"I don't think anyone will be getting their turn today," Jessie murmured, her hand shuffling through Morrell's things on her desk. She bent down and started going through her filing cabinets.

"Hey, those files are private!" Danielle protested.

Lydia adopted the same attitude, "Yeah, she's kind of right."

Jessie paused, getting slightly frustrated, "You said she was 20 minutes late. Morrell is never late, I went to her last year for weeks and not once was she even a second late. She's missing because she knows something and we need to find out what."

Stiles was gun-ho with that plan, taking the files Jessie handed off. He handed one to Lydia, "That one's yours."

Her interest piqued as she started going through her file, seeing the beginning of a pile of drawings she'd done.

Stiles grabbed her wrist when he noticed the third drawing, "Wait, Lydia, that's your drawing."

"Yeah, I know," she told him, obviously. "It's a tree."

"Yeah, good too," Danielle hummed over her shoulder.

"Thank you," Lydia murmure.

"No," Stiles jabbed his finger into the drawing, spreading out others around it. "But that's the same one, though."

"Same as what?" Lydia was not seeing it.

Jessie peered down at the drawing, "You're always drawing that in class."

Lydia shrugged, "It's a tree. I like drawing trees."

"But it's the exact same one. Don't you see?" Stiles started flipping through the drawings in the file. "Give me your bag," he grabbed her purse and dug out her comp notebook, flipping through the pages with many identical trees. "There, see?"

Lydia's eyes widened as they traced the intricate pattern of all the trees that were exact duplicates.

"Okay, you can have my session," Danielle called, walking out. "You got bigger issues."

Lydia's breath grew shorter, "What is this?"

Jessie squinted from her view of the drawing on the other side of the desk, "Maybe it's not a tree..." She reached forward and twisted the drawing around so Stiles and Lydia would see what she saw, "It's roots."

"The Nemeton," Sonia's voice suddenly sounded from the open doorway. "What I am sworn to protect."

"Do you know where it is?" Stiles asked excitedly.

"No, I don't," she answered, walking out of the room with the teenagers in tow. "It's a sacred space, the location can only be known by a select few unless the beacon leads a supernatural being there. But while sacrifices give it power, it's power can not be accessed without the guardians approval. I made the mistake of saving Julia's life and now she's exploited the Nemeton to exact her revenge in the name of justice."

"Stilinski!" the teens looked over and frowned when they saw Agent McCall waving Stiles over.

The spazzy teen groaned, turning to Lydia and Sonia, "Go to Derek, okay? He and Peter, they've been there before, so they'll know where it is. Tell them it's the root cellar, all right? They'll know."

Sonia nodded and gently took Lydia's elbow, leading the girl away as Agent McCall approached Stiles. Jessie didn't leave his side.

"Did you know your dad's car is in the school parking lot and has been since last night?"

"No," Stiles sniffed in disinterest. "What does that mean?"

"It means he's officially missing," Agent McCall told him, gesturing for the teen to follow him into an empty class room. Jessie went to follow them inside but McCall held a hand out to stop her, "You can go onto class."

"No way you're talking to him alone,  _cur_ ," [ass in Romanian] she told him, walking past his hand and sitting next to Stiles.

"Stiles, why am I getting the feeling you know something that could help us find your dad?" McCall droned condescendingly.

Stiles squinted at him, "If I did, why would I not tell you?"

"If it meant helping your dad, why wouldn't you?" the Agent asked back.

"So, you're asking me to tell you what I wouldn't not tell you?" Stiles asked him.

Agent McCall was blank faced, "First, I have no idea what you just said."

"Wouldn't expect you too," Jessie cracked, crossing her arms in front of her.

He ignored her as the vein in his neck grew more pronounced, "Second, how about you just help me help you?"

"Well, I don't know how to help you help me tell you something that would help you if I don't know it," Stiles answered.

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

"You're wasting our time, Agent," Jessie told him. "So, why don't you just let us go now?"

"Where are your other friends?" he asked instead.

"Not here, obviously," Jessie answered, taking Stiles hand in hers. "Isn't it your job to find out what's going on here? We're just kids. But it seems you enjoy illegally interrogating minors without a guardian or lawyer present than actually doing any real investigating. So, we're going to just go now." She stood up, taking Stiles with her.

"I can't let you go home alone," McCall called after them.

"They're with me," Deaton appeared in the classroom's doorway.

* * *

"You don't know where it is?" Lydia asked incredulously, Peter and Derek sitting in front of her and Sonia. "But Stiles said you'd been there."

"What are you doing here?" Sonia snapped at her sister.

"Helping," Georgie insisted, sitting next to Marissa at Cora's side.

"We have," Peter answered Lydia. "But after a few memorable experiences there, Talia... Derek's mother and my older sister... decided that she didn't ever want us going back. She knew how dangerous it was and took the memory of it's location from us."

"But then how are we supposed to find it?"

* * *

Morrell stood in a circle of mountain ash as Kali and the twins surrounding her. Deucalion's stick tapped the dirt ground as he and Scott walked towards the group. "How did you know, Marin, that we'd come for you?"

"Because Jennifer and I are the same," the emissary answered. "And I know you've always been suspicious of us, of what we can do."

"With good reason," Kali snarled. "We know you sent that girl... the one who helped Isaac."

"What was her name?" Deucalion asked, uncaring of the girl he slashed down.

"Braeden," Morrell growled. "And I sent her to do what I've always done... maintain balance."

"What do you know about Jennifer?" Deucalion asked harshly.

"Nothing more than you know," she answered, looking at the boy-wolf. "This isn't you, Scott. Go back to your friends."

"He can decide what's right for himself," Deucalion spoke quickly.

"Not without all the information," Morrell stated flatly. "Have you told him everything you've done? How you've piled up bodies in a narcissistically psychotic effort to form your perfect pack? Bodies that include Ennis, by the way." Kali's ear's perked as Morrell faced her, "My brother saved him. He was alive when Deucalion went in to see him. He wants you to go after Derek, Kali, to force his decision. If Derek joins the pack, it paves the way for Scott."

Scott and Kali both gave Deucalion looks as they thought over what she said.

"The lies people will tell when they're begging for their life," Deucalion droned.

"Ask him," Morrell urged.

Before any other words could be uttered, Deucalion uncapped his cane and through it like a spear towards the woman. The knife pierced her shoulder, sending her back with a great cry of pain, falling outside her protected circle. Scott ran to her side and Kali and the twins tried to close in on her. But Scott called out to them, "Hey, back off."

Instinctively, they listened, still huffing.

Morrell panted heavily in agony as Scott looked down at her, "I'm not going to let them kill you. But if you know something, if you know where they are..."

"The Nemeton..." Morrell gasped. "You find that, you'll find Jennifer. Find the Nemeton."

* * *

Stiles, Allison, Isaac, Jessie, Alex and Emily gathered around the metallic operating table in the vet's office with Deaton. Stiles leaned against the table top, "It has to be on a telluric current, or maybe even at the axis of two or where they all intersect. I just know it's where Derek took Paige to die."

"My dad and Gerard were there once," Allison pitched in. "But Gerard said it was years ago, and he couldn't remember where it was. And my dad obviously isn't here to tell us now."

"Yeah, mine either," Stiles sighed.

"We didn't see any root cellar at any of the places Connor and I checked," Emily added.

"Nor I and Gavin," Alex cracked his neck.

"Who?" Jessie asked confusedly.

"Not important," Alex waved her off.

"How are we supposed to find this place?" Isaac asked.

Deaton had been quiet until he could no longer be quiet, "There might be a way. But it's dangerous. We're gonna need Scott."

* * *

Scott walked up to meet Stiles, Jessie and Deaton at Stiles jeep in the woods, "How'd you guys find out?"

"Lydia and Georgie's sister, Sonia," Stiles answered. "You?"

"Morrell," Scott stated. "None of the other Alphas know where it is either."

"So, if this works, are you gonna tell them?" Stiles asked suspiciously.

Scott shrugged slowly, "I can't stop Jennifer without them."

"How about we concentrate on find your parents first?" Deaton suggested.

Scott nodded thankfully, "So, what's the plan?"

"Essentially you, Allison, and Stiles need to be surrogate sacrifices for your parents," Deaton explained.

"You die, if all goes well, only for a few seconds," Jessie further explained. "And hopefully, Deaton can bring you back. But it's dangerous. And it comes with side effects."

"What side effects?" Scott asked.

Deaton spoke up, "You'll be giving power to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents or the Grimms can fill the pages of a bestiary with. It will draw them here, like a beacon."

"Doesn't sound any worse than anything we've already seen," Stiles commented.

"You'd be surprised at what you have yet to see," Deaton warned him.

"Is that the only side effect?" Scott asked.

"No," Deaton answered solemnly. "It'll affect all three of you. You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of darkness around your heart, and permanent, like a scar."

"Like a tattoo," Scott breathed.

* * *

"I don't like this," Georgie said from behind Stiles as he searched through his dad's room for some kind of tether. "Isn't there some other way? That doesn't involve you dying?"

"If you have any other ideas, I'm all ears," Stiles told her as he went through his dad's nightstand.

"I just don't want to risk... losing you," she admitted.

Stiles paused and turned to her, seeing the frown of worry on her face. He stepped in front of her and held her shoulders, "You won't."

"You said if I got involved in all of this again that you'd protect me," Georgie pointed out. "Here I am – involved in all of this, against my nature, against my sister, against my peoples' laws. But if you do this... you could die. What if we can't bring you back?"

"You will," he promised her. "I've got a werewolf, two hunters, some kind of psychic, some kind of expert of the supernatural, an all-powerful vampire and my witch girlfriend there to watch my back. I think I'm covered."

Georgie cracked a small smile, "Your girlfriend...?"

He realized they hadn't talked, seriously, since he turned his back on her after finding out what she was and she begged for his understanding. He'd forgiven her, but he hadn't said so explicitly. He leaned closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him, "Yeah—I mean—if you want to be-"

"Stiles," she cut him off, pressing her lips to his, "I do."

* * *

The teens all gathered in the vets room, pouring bags of ice into tubs of water. Georgie wrapped her arms around one of Stiles' arms as a support system. Isaac stood off to the side with Emily and Lydia next to Allison. Scott stood with Jessie and Alex in between them and Stiles. Deaton finished emptying the last bag of ice into the third tub of water and mistletoe. "All right. What did you bring?"

Stiles fiddled with the distorted Sheriff's badge in his hand, looking between Georgie and the others, "Um, I got my dad's badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"If it means something to you then it'll work," Georgie assured him softly.

Allison turned over her dad's bullet in her hand, causing Emily to take notice, "A silver bullet?"

"My dad made it," Allison explained quietly. "It's kind of ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

"Scott?" Deaton prompted.

Scott opened his closed fist to reveal a small watch with a red leather band, "My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."

Jessie cracked a smile at that, "I love your mom."

Scott slowly smiled from the side, "Me too."

Jessie laid her hand on his shoulder in comfort, "This'll work. We'll find her."

"Okay, the three of you will get in," Deaton started to explain the process. "Three of us will hold you down until you're essentially... well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether."

Lydia and Allison locked eyes, the red head walking over to her best friend and helping her discard her jacket and untangle the band from her hair.

Georgie practically had a death grip on Stiles' arm when he went to sit on the tub to take his shoes off, "I don't like this..."

Stiles unlatched her hands form his arm and held them in both of his, "This'll work. I'll come back, I promise."

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his harshly, pulling back with a shaky breath, "Please come back."

While Scott toed his shoes off, Deaton gently pulled Jessie off to the side to speak to her quietly, "You should go with Scott."

She seemed shocked, "Are you sure? I mean, you've been like a father to Scott. That seems like a pretty strong emotional tether."

"You may not feel the full power of it yet," he told her, "but you and Scott have a deep connection that will last for the rest of your lives, more powerful than any obstacle either of you will face, and only make you both more powerful than any enemy can handle. I am sure."

Jessie nodded, floored by the seriousness of the new information, "Okay."

* * *

Derek brushed off Marissa's concerned arm, "I have to do it now, or she'll die."

She stood away from him as he reached down to hold his sister's arm and flinched when the veins of his skin turned pitch black. Peter watched eagerly as Derek roared from the excursion, his vibrant Alpha red eyes turning bright Beta blue.

* * *

Scott, Stiles and Allison all lined up in front of their tubs, Jessie, Georgie and Lydia behind them. Allison dipped her foot inside the ice water, sighing harshly at the stinging cold sensation. One limb by one the three started stepping into the wrinkling cold water, breathing deeply from the feeling.

Their tethers stayed back until they were down to their necks. Stiles bobbed up and looked over at Scott, "By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something. Your dad's in town."

Scott gaped at his friend, keeping the ever growing pile of crap life has been throwing at him in the back of his mind as he focused on the task at hand. He felt Jessie's warm hands on his shoulders, "You better come back."

He tilted his head to look up at her, tempted to smile. But he kept a serious face as he swore to her, "I will."

Slowly, Jessie, Georgie and Lydia pushed Scott, Stiles and Allison down into the water until their heads were submerged.


	20. True Sacrifice

"What's taking so long?"

Isaac tentatively put his hands on Jessie's shoulders as she stood in front of Scott's tub chewing her thumbnail nervously. "They'll wake up any minute."

"It's been three hours, Isaac," Jessie whispered harshly. "It was only supposed to take a few seconds."

"They'll wake up," Lydia assured her. "They have to."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Emily asked her brother for the third time from the passengers seat.

"We're meeting Connor and Gavin," Alex answered gruffly, his eyes trained on the road as he turned into the parking lot of a motel.

"Where? Motel 69?" Emily smirked. "We should be at the clinic with the others."

"We'll get back to them after this," Alex told her. "Connor called and said his mum came to Beacon Hills with important news."

"Connor and Gavin's mum is here? The Seer?" Emily asked, suddenly way more interested. "Why'd she come all the way here from Toronto?"

"Sienna insisted," Alex told her as they parked at the end of the motel and got out.

"Sienna's here too!?" Emily called out.

He shook his head though, "No, she's still in Oregon. But Dina saw something that has to with our problem so she needed to come to Beacon Hills to get a better sight."

"What'd she see?" Emily asked just as the door to a motel room opened up and Connor appeared in the doorway.

"Nothing good, mate."

* * *

"It's been six hours," Jessie sat in a heap on the floor in the corner next to Scott's tub. "Why aren't they waking up?"

"You can't get impatient, Jessie," Deaton tried to calm her.

She turned her eyes on him, "You said Scott and I had some bond and I'd be able to pull him back. That we had some connection that'd make us both stronger. What happens to that if he doesn't come back?"

"Jessica..." Deaton sighed, seeing a tear fall from one of her eyes. He walked over to her and leaned in front of her, crouching to her level, "You can not lose hope. For your family. For Scott – your friends. For you. As unfair as all of this is, you simply can not stop fighting."

"I'm so tired, Deaton," she whispered, and in that moment she wasn't his employee, she wasn't the Demi-Cruore, she wasn't the all powerful vampire. She was just Jessie, a teenaged girl in way over her head, caught in the middle of a supernatural war she didn't ask for. She was to be protected, not thrown into the front lines.

"I know," he told her. "But when you get tired of fighting and you feel like you simply can not fight anymore – you keep fighting."

"Excuse me, Jessie?" Alex's voice interrupted their moment.

Deaton stood up from his position and helped Jessie up to stand. She coughed awkwardly and cleared her throat, "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, earning a suspicious glare and growl from Isaac in a different corner of the room. "In private."

Jessie didn't know what he had to talk to her in private about but he seemed serious. She looked at Deaton and gestured to Scott, "Watch them." She walked out to the front of the vets office with Alex, standing by his car were Emily sat in the drivers seat.

"What's going on?"

"You need to leave," Alex told her quickly, opening the passengers side door for her. "Right now. Emily packed a bag of the necessities for you. She'll tell you where you're headed when your out of Beacon Hills."

"What?" Jessie gasped. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere."

"You have to," he stood closer to her. "Please—you need to leave."

"Why would I do that?" Jessie stared at him in shock. "They need me here. I need to help Scott and Derek beat the Alphas and Jennifer."

"If you do, it won't end well," Alex raised his voice at her. "You just need to go. I'll stay and help."

"You're a hunter, not a vampire," Jessie pointed out. "Your guns won't help you with her."

"Jessie, you have to trust us," Emily's voice broke in from her window. "I'll explain everything when we get there."

"Get where?" she demanded. "What's going on with you two? How could you think I would just abandon my friends?"

"Because you'll die if you don't!" Alex shouted.

She paused, turning fully to him, "What the hell are you talking about?"

He sighed roughly, running a hand through his hair, "We know this Seer. She sees the future and she saw yours. If you stay in Beacon Hills and go up against Deucalion and the Darrach, they'll kill you."

"What?" Jessie asked in a small voice.

"It's true," Emily said softly. "You need to leave Beacon Hills before the Lunar Eclipse or you'll be killed."

Jessie stared in between the two siblings for what felt like eternity to them but in reality it was probably two minutes. She was destined to die? To be killed? How could that be? She had faced Alpha werewolves and kanimas and her own growing powers and made it this far. How could this be any different? She had to live and fight, didn't she?

She let out a shaky breath, "Who else knows about what this Seer saw?"

"Sonia, Georgie's sister," Emily answered, confused as to why she was asking. "Connor and Gavin, some witches we work with from time to time. The Seer is their mum."

"You can't tell anyone else," she whispered. "Not Isaac... or Stiles or Scott. No one else knows."

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked her.

"I'm talking about staying," she told him. "I can't run away just because there's a chance I'll die. That's always a risk. And if Scott or Isaac knew, they wouldn't let me anywhere near the fight."

"This isn't a risk assessment, this is a 110 percent guarantee that you'll die—from the mouth of one of the greatest Seers in the world!" Alex told her. "You can not stay."

"I am though," Jessie told him gently. "I understand that you want to keep me safe, Alex, I get that. But I can't just run away and leave my friends behind to do this on their own. I just... can't."

"You'll die, Jessie..." he tried one more time. He couldn't lose her. He loved this girl, whether or not she loved him back. He couldn't just let her die.

"Maybe," Jessie slowly shrugged. "Maybe I will."

* * *

"What did he want to talk about?" Isaac asked Jessie quietly.

"Nothing, just reinforcement stuff," Jessie lied, keeping her heartbeat as steady as she could.

Isaac heard her heartbeat barely jump over the word 'nothing' but didn't say anything. He had no claim on her anymore. He couldn't know everything about her anymore. And he just had to get used to it.

"Have they moved at all?" Jessie asked Deaton, looking at Scott and Stiles' unmoving bodies.

"Not. One. Bit." Lydia tutted.

Just then there was a knock at the front door. Georgie stood up, pulling out her wallet, "That'll be the pizza."

"You ordered pizza?" Lydia asked the girl in an almost accusatory tone.

"We're no help to them when they wake up if we've starved to death," she quipped back. She walked to the front room and returned with three boxes of pizza, "We have cheese, pepperoni and one with white sauce, cheese, pepperoni, anchovies and basil."

"Who would eat that?" Isaac asked, smelling the atrocious pizza.

Georgie answered in a quiet tone, "It's Stiles' favorite."

Jessie patted the girl's shoulder and took the top pizza from her, "Dig in. It seems like it's gonna be a while."

* * *

Allison, Stiles and Scott shot up from their tubs gasping for air, the water dripping loudly off of their bodies. Their friends all shot up from their reclining positions. Jessie, Georgie and Lydia grabbed some towels.

"I saw it!" Scott breathed harshly. "I know where it is."

"We passed it," Stiles added while Georgie wrapped a towel around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. "There's—there's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big, though, very big."

"It was the night we were looking for the body," Scott told them, looking at Jessie as she draped a towel around him and helped him dry off.

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter," Stiles said, looking at his best friend.

"I was there too," Allison shivered as Lydia helped her get warm. "In the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."

Scott paused, "It was me, you almost hit me. We can find it."

The three paused in their chatter when they noticed the others were being very quiet.

"What?" Allison asked.

"You guys were out a long time," Isaac answered.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles asked, looking between Isaac and Georgie.

"Sixteen hours," Deaton answered gravely.

Scott gaped at him, "We've been in the water for sixteen hours?"

"And the full moon rises in less than four."

* * *

Derek gasped softly as he woke to Cora dipping water from a bottle into his mouth. He felt his hair being pushed back and stroked and see Marissa staring worriedly at him. He looked at his sister, "You're okay."

She smiled at him, "I'm doing much better than you are right now, and all because of you."

"Hopefully not all for nothing," Peter remarked. "The moon is rising, Derek. You drained your battery all the way to the red, and there is a fully charged alpha on her way to rip you limb from limb."

"I'll be fine in a few hours," Derek panted.

"I sincerely hope so," Peter snarled. "Because a few hours is all that you have."

* * *

"No, dude, you are not going back with them," Stiles told Scott.

"He's right, Scott," Jessie supported Stiles. "It's too dangerous."

"I made a deal with Deucalion," Scott remarked softly.

"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stiles looked around the room.

"Why does it matter, anyway?" Isaac asked.

"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help," Scott said, resigned.

Allison shook her head, looking over at Deucalion, "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong."

Deaton couldn't help her though, "I'm not so sure he is. Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."

"So, we're gonna trust him," Isaac asked incredulously. "The guy that calls himself death, destroyer of worlds? We're gonna trust that guy?"

"I wouldn't  _trust_  him, no," Deaton revised. "But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

Just then the front door creaked open, signaling that someone just entered the clinic. Some of the group looked around, seeing everyone was here that should be. Deaton decided to walk to the front to see who it was – Ethan.

The Alpha, alone, spoke gravely, "I'm looking for Lydia."

The girl walked out from behind Deaton, "What do you want?"

"I need your help," Ethan stated softly.

"With what?"

"Stopping my brother and Kali," he said. "From killing Derek."

* * *

"We know about the lunar eclipse," Ethan explained to Derek, Peter, Cora and Marissa with Lydia by his side. "So, don't think Kali's gonna sit around waiting for it to level the playing field. She's coming, and my brother's coming with her."

Peter nodded, "Good enough for me. Derek?"

"You want me to run?" Derek asked him calmly, his mind already working in the opposite direction.

"No, I want you to stay and get slaughtered by an alpha with a psychotic foot fetish," Peter scoffed sarcastically. "Of course I want you to run. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town—and take your girlfriend with you."

Derek shared a look with Marrissa, her eyes begging him to listen to Peter for once. But he just couldn't.

"If you want to fight and die for something, that's fine with me," Cora assured him. "But do it for something meaningful."

"How do you know I'm going to lose?" he asked.

"We don't," Peter gestured to Lydia. "But I'll bet she has an idea. Don't you, Lydia?"

The girl's eyes widened as the attention all fell on her, "I don't know anything."

"But you feel something, don't you?" Peter encouraged. The girl averted her eyes to the floor.

"What do you feel?" Derek pressed.

"I feel like..." she began quietly, almost frightened of herself, "I'm standing in a graveyard."

* * *

"Allison?" Jessie asked the other girl in the elevator on their way up to the Argent apartment with Isaac and Scott – who was on the phone with Stiles.

"Yeah?" the girl asked, a hopeful lilt to her voice.

"Your dad has smoke grenades right?" Jessie asked instead of extending the forgiveness Allison was waiting for. "The kind that ignite automatically?"

"Yeah, why?" Allison seemed confused.

"We might need them," Jessie answered cryptically as the elevator dinged.

"Just grab anything," Scott spoke into his phone. "Stiles, I'm not smelling your dad's boxers." He paused as they all walked into the apartment, "Socks? Okay, I'll smell socks."

Isaac stuck to Jessie closely, "What about me?"

Allison answered him, "See what you can find in my dad's closet. Anything with the strongest scent."

She cut off in her talking when the teens walked past Chris' office and saw Agent McCall and two deputies behind the desk laid out with weapons. McCall stood with his hands in his pockets, shoulders straight back and lips pursed in contemplation, "Quite an arsenal your father's got here, young lady." His eyes found his son's deep brown ones.

"Scott."

Scott didn't know how to feel right now. Yes, Stiles warned him that his estranged father was in town, but he didn't know what to expect. He hadn't seen his dad in years. The man had been absent in his life for most of it. And now that he's back in town, the way he reunites with his son is to break into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and start an interrogation?

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked. Jessie sensed his internal struggle and slipped her hand into his, cupping his fingers lightly only to let him know she was here for him.

"Following one of the only leads I have," his father answered. "Now, since I don't know where you've been, why don't you have a seat, and we can talk?" He paused, his eyes falling to the ceiling as he called out louder, "You too, Issac."

Isaac inched in behind Jessie, seeming confused, "How do you know my name?"

"Your name's one of the few things I know. To be honest, the rest of what's going on around here has me stumbling in the dark," he said, gazing at the weapons he'd uncovered, "even over the smallest clue."

"If you're trying to tell me that you don't have a clue," Scott started, stepping further into the room, slightly pulling Jessie with him. "I learned that a long time ago."

Agent McCall's vein in his temple budged out a little bit as he tried to rein in his annoyance, "I'm really hoping to avoid the embarrassment of dragging my own son into an interrogation room. Really hoping."

* * *

The alarm Derek set up in his loft was blaring for a total of two seconds before Kali punched it into pieces, eyeing Lydia and Ethan with Aiden flanking her. "Where is he?"

Lydia pursed her lips in faux-thought, "I think he said he was heading out to do some shopping, run a few errands, the usual," she cleared her throat nervously, "werewolf afternoon."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Kali asked dangerously.

But Lydia was through being scared, "Someone in desperate need of a pedicure. I'd be happy to give you a referral."

Aiden stepped forward growling lowly in his throat. Kali stopped short, turning to look at Aiden, glaring deeply, "Oh, really?"

* * *

Derek strapped into the drivers seat of his car. Marissa sat in angst in the passengers seat with Cora behind her. Peter dipped his head into her window, looking seriously at Derek, "Don't call until you're at least 100 miles away."

Derek nodded.

"Go!" Peter called to him, ducking out of the window.

Derek started the car and sped away.

* * *

"I'm not gonna lie," McCall began after the teens took seats. Allison and Scott sat in chair while Isaac and Jessie sat on the arms respectively. "I'm more than a little disturbed, not only by the number of missing parents, but the fact that it's Stiles' father, your father," he gestured to Allison, pausing and then weakly gesturing to Scott, "and your mother."

Isaac smacked his lips over some peanuts he tossed into his mouth, "Mine are both dead."

"Mine was kidnapped, and is now in a coma," Jessie added, tilting her head. "And you're wasting our time with this crap."

"Save the cliched teenage apathy for your high school teachers," he retorted. "The three of you know more than you're saying, and I'm fully willing to keep you here all night if I have to."

"Only you're not allowed to," Jessie glared.

* * *

Kali half-circled Aiden threateningly, "Did someone take their assignment too seriously?"

He remained straight faced, "She is not the problem."

"Maybe the problem is where your loyalties lie," she growled.

"Oh, god," Lydia gasped under her breath. "Is this about to get really violent?"

"Probably," Ethan answered her honestly.

Suddenly a body dropped in through the glass ceiling, shattering the sharp shards onto the foursome below. Lydia screamed as Ethan took her into his arms and they fell over to the side, trying to shield her from the offensive objects.

Jennifer, all dressed in black and ready for a fight, landed gracefully on her feet, glaring smugly as the animalistic Kali she used to hold dear to her heart. "So, who wants to go first?"

Kali growled loudly and starting swiping her clawed feet at the Darrach. Jennifer smirked as she dodged every swipe of foot and claw Kali could throw at her, feeling the power of the Nemeton coursing through her veins under the looming Lunar Eclipse. She caught Kali's foot mid-spin and propelled her into the air, watching the she-wolf landed on her chest with a loud thump.

She turned smug to Aiden. The boy growled and charged for the woman, but she slipped out of his way and landed a hard punch to his chest, throwing him to the opposite side of Kali.

Ethan stood up from his crouch with Lydia and slipped off his jacket. Aiden saw him and he ripped off his shirt wildly, starting to merge with his twin. Jennifer marched up to them and grabbed their necks mid-merge, using her strength to toss them apart.

She turned around ready to face Kali again as the she-wolf stood up. Kali paused, seeing Jennifer as she was now and remembering her scarred, slashed and broken.

Jennifer sensed her pause, "That's right, Kali. Look at me. Look at my face. Do you know what it takes to be able to look like this, to be able to look normal?"

Kali's mouth set into a line, "I don't care."

"It takes power," Jennifer hissed. "Power like this." She raised her hands as the storm brewed and crackled overhead and the glass shards she'd caused levitated off the floor around her.

"I..." Kali breathed out.

Lydia gulped in fear as the glass got lifted higher.

"I should've..." Kali continued as she realized what Jennifer was about to do to her, "I should've ripped your head off!"

Jennifer cried off as she sent the shards flying towards Kali, watching in grim satisfaction as they pierced the Alpha's body and she fell to the floor, dead.

Jennifer slowly turned to Lydia, not realizing the twins dragged themselves together to morph behind her back. Lydia gripped the table behind her in her hands tightly in fear as Jennifer got closer to her. The Darrach stopped short when she heard growling behind her and turned to see the Mega-Alpha fully formed and gunning for her. She smirked at the thought of a fight, ducking under their large swinging arms, grabbing one to use their momentum against them and twist the around. She twisted her back to theirs and reached behind her to crack their neck over her shoulder.

Lydia's breath left her as she watched the morphed twins fall onto the floor, blood seeping out of their mouth. Her eyes fell on Jennifer as she smiled in self-satisfaction, "What's the line coach likes to say? The bigger they are..."

* * *

Stiles sped down a lone road, getting nervous under the weight of the looming storm, thunder cracking like a giant in the air. Georgie stared out the window from the passengers seat, her hand reaching over to Stiles knee.

* * *

"We're minors," Jessie continued. "With no parents, legal guardians or lawyers present. And unfortunately for you, you're wasting your time bothering us instead of finding them."

"She's right," Scott supported Jessie. "You can't keep us here."

"Not without some kind of warrant," Allison added.

Agent McCall peered down at the weapons he laid out of Chris' on his desk, "I've got a desk full of probably cause."

Allison pursed her lips, not impressed, and stood up, "My father is a highly respected private security consultant and federally licensed firearms dealer. That means he has to own a few weapons." She approached the desk, pointing at some of the items on top, "Like this 175-pound tactical crossbow or this carbon steel marine combat knife, .50ae desert eagle." She paused when she noticed the smoke grenade Jessie had asked about earlier. She reached over to pick it up, "Smoke grenade with a pull ring ignite." She quickly tugged the ring off and tossed towards McCall. Smoke enveloped the room under them as Allison and Jessie sprung into action. "Go!"

Isaac pulled Jessie after him into the hallway with Allison and Scott on their flank as they made their escape, ignoring Scott's father calling out for him.

* * *

Stiles' driving became more erratic as wind and rain smacked against the car from all sides, making it harder to drive. Georgie gripped her seat, wishing she was a weather witch rather than what she was. Stiles groaned under his breath, "Come on."

Another gust of wind blew against the side of the car, wind, dirt and rain clouding the windshield. The jeep swerved, Stiles trying to turn the wheel against the wind and regain control of the car, "Woah."

"Maybe slow down?" Georgie suggested shakily.

But there was no time when suddenly they were veered off the road and next thing there was a large tree in front of them. The car ran into the tree dead on, Stiles smacking his head on the steering wheel, but Georgie's head smacked into the side window, the glass cracking under her skull as her eyes slowly shut.

* * *

Jennifer was closing in on Lydia, the terrified girl backing up into a wooden beam, whimpering, "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to do what you do best, Lydia," Jennifer told her. "I want you to scream."

She twisted her neck, revealing her true scarred form and roaring into Lydia's face. In fright, Lydia opened her mouth and let out a loud shriek and echoed through the loft and through the air.

* * *

Derek and Cora heard the scream, Derek quickly pulling over the car from the force of it. Marissa looked at him, utterly confused, "What? What is it?"

"Lydia," Derek breathed. "We have to go back."

* * *

Allison's car and Scott's bike sped into the entrance of the Beacon Hills Preserve. Isaac, Allison and Jessie jumped out of her car as Scott dismounted his bike and took off his helmet. Allison looked to the new Alpha, "Are you okay?"

"I didn't know what to say to him," Scott told her. "I couldn't come up with anything, but what you did—that was awesome!"

"It was all because of what Jessie said earlier," the girl gave the other credit.

"We make a good team I guess," Jesse allowed, causing Allison to pause. Maybe she was getting closer to forgiveness.

"I still haven't gotten anything from Stiles," Isaac interrupted. "You?"

Jessie shook her head, as did Scott, "I don't get it."

"All right," Isaac started walking. "Well, we can't wait for him. Come on."

Allison and Jessie trailed after him. Scott paused, looking at his phone, seeing no messages. He couldn't shake the feeling that Stiles was somewhere hurt. But he had to do this, so he followed the group up to the top of lookout point.

Deucalion appeared from the trees behind them, "Cutting it a little close, aren't we, Scott?"

They all turned to face him. Scott looked around, "We got a little delayed. Where are the others?"

"Occupying themselves with other pursuits," Deucalion answered cryptically.

"So, it's just you and me against her?" Scott asked, not liking the odds.

"I think you'll be surprised what a good team we make," Deucalion told him.

Scott turned to the others, "Okay, get Stiles. And then get to the root cellar, okay? We'll keep Jennifer away long enough for you to get them out of there."

"How are you going to do that?" Isaac asked him.

"I have a plan."

"I'm staying with you," Jessie pitched in, facing Scott determinedly. She didn't care what Alex's precious Seer told him. She wasn't going to leave Scott to Deucalion and Jennifer. She was standing by her best friend and helping him end all of this.

"No, go with them," Scott tried to tell her.

"Yes, come with us," Isaac agreed hastily. "Jennifer is too dangerous."

"I'm powerful enough to help us win against her," Jessie argued. "I can handle it. She's not even at full power yet."

"The girl is right, boys," Deucalion interrupted them all. "She is more powerful than anyone around here gives her credit for."

"Right," Jessie agreed dubiously with their frenemy, "Go, Isaac. I'll be fine."

On some kind of impulse, Isaac leaned down and pecked his lips to hers. He tried not to be embarrassed as he pulled away, "Be safe."

Jessie decided not to say anything other than, "Okay."

* * *

Cora sat with a scared Lydia against the wooden beam as Derek and Marissa surveyed the bodies of the morphed twins and slashed up Kali. Derek received Jennifer passively, "You did this for me?"

"For us," Jennifer replied passionately, eyeing Marissa's hands on Derek's arm. "For anyone who's ever been their victim."

"Stop talking to me like a politician," Derek growled at her. "Stop tying to convince me of your cause!"

"Fine, I'll convince you of someone else's," she glared. "Scott. You can save his mother, Stiles' father."

"How?" Derek asked her.

"I need a guardian," she explained. "And that role can either be filled by the three parents I was forced to take or by you."

"I can't help you, I'm not even an Alpha anymore," he argued.

"All I need is for you to help me get Deucalion in the right place at the right time," she insisted.

"You just killed three of them on your own," he pointed out. "What do you need me for?"

"You haven't seen him at his strongest," Jennifer breathed out. "I have. And if he's got Scott with him, I don't stand a chance unless I have you."

"Derek, don't trust her," Cora warned her brother.

"Cora's right," Marissa added. "She's the monster who started all this."

"I have the eclipse in my favor," Jennifer cut them off. "But the moon's only gonna be in the earth's umbral shadow for 15 minutes. That's the extent of my window. There's no decision to struggle with. Help me kill him, and the others live. Just help me."

* * *

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Isaac shouted over the noise of the storm as he and Allison tried to navigate their way to the root cellar.

"I know we're near it," she called to him. "You think you can pick up a scent?"

"I'm trying," he told her, "but I ca-" he cut himself off as he heard something. A sort of high pitched sonic sound. "I hear something. It's an—it's an emitter. It's one of your dad's."

"Are you sure?" Allison asked him.

"Has to be," Isaac told her, running off. "Come on."

She followed him through the woods until they found a large opening, seeing the large stump that houses so much power. They walked around it's perimeter until Isaac saw wooden doors on the ground and little ways off, "Allison." He gestured over to the doors and they ran over, throwing them open with much force under the wind.

Isaac followed Allison into the cellar. She breathed out in relief, "Oh, my god. Thank god!" She kneeled in front of her father, kissing his head.

He smiled tiredly at her, "You found us."

"Where's Stiles?" The Sheriff asked. "Where's my son?"

"And Scott?" Melissa added worriedly.

"They're coming, all right?" Isaac told them. "They're on their way to help."

"Okay," Melissa swallowed the lump in her throat. The group all stopped short when rocks and rubble began to fall from above them. The ground around the Nemeton was starting to cave in.

* * *

"We have to get going," Cora pulled Lydia up from the ground. "Lydia, we can get help."

"From who?" the girl asked, scared out of her mind.

"It doesn't matter," Marissa assured the young girl. "But we need to leave."

They were cut off by a groan and all turned to see the twins separate from each other, falling onto the backs apart from each other. Lydia and Cora went to each other their sides. "They're alive."

"I think I can help them," Marissa told the girls. "But I need medical supplies and we can't take them to the hospital."

"We need to get them to Deaton," Lydia told her urgently.

* * *

"You said you had a plan," Deucalion commented as he, Scott and Jessie walked up to the large warehouse.

Scott surveyed the spiral that Ennis had left behind, "On the first day of class, Jennifer sent all of us a message. It was the last line from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I've got a message of my own to send her."

* * *

Jennifer kept her eyes trained on the countdown she set up to know when her window opened when her phone dinged with an incoming message from Scott McCall. She opened it to see a video. The camera focused on the large spiral etched into the metal wall, "You see this symbol? It's a symbol of revenge." The camera turned to face Scott with Jessie by his side, Deucalion behind them.

"You talk about balance," Jessie said. "About saving people. But we know what you really want."

"And now you know where to find us," Scott concluded, ending the message.

* * *

Stiles slowly came to, groaning in pain. He had one massive headache. The storm was still blowing around the jeep as he turned and saw blood on the passengers side window. He gasped when he saw Georgie slumped in her seat, unconscious. He quickly unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over her, "Georgie? Georgie, wake up."

Her eyes remained closed as Stiles felt around her head for the source of blood. He felt a large lump and cut just behind her temple, the breath leaving his body at the thought of her... dead.

"No, no, no, no, no," he started breathing heavily, bordering on a panic attack, "no, no, Georgie? Come on, you gotta wake up." He cupped her face in his hands to make her face him, "Come on, you're a healer! You have powers—so—heal."

She was quiet. And still in his arms. He felt his eyes growing moist as he unbuckled her seat belt and tried to turn her body in his arms. He noticed the blood staining his fingers and his breath grew deeper and more rapid, "Please."

He heard a thump as something fell out of her jacket pocket. He peered down at the floor under her seat and saw a little brown book. He picked it up, opening it and seeing that it was a book of healing spells. He flipped through it, looking for anything. He didn't even know if he could make one work.

"Okay, okay, okay," he panted. "Sano... sanaret... vita."

He paused, looking at her face for any sign that she was okay. "Georgie?"

She hadn't moved. He scrambled for another spell, "Medicor...vulnus... malefica..."

She still hadn't moved. Stiles started to tear up, feeling incredible guilt at dragging her into this supernatural mess just for her to die because of him. "Wake up."

* * *

Isaac and Allison hurried to untie the parents as the ground started to cave in around them. Isaac shouted over the thunder, "Hurry! Watch out!"

Some shelves fell over on one side of them, on the other a wooden beam cracked and fell to the ground.

Chris screamed, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

They all tried to get to the stairs just as the weight of the storm destroyed them, the wood splintering in a heap on the ground in front of them. There was no way out.

* * *

"Cora, grab that table," Deaton said urgently as he and Marissa carried the twins inside one by one. Cora swept all the supplies off the table against the wall and wheeled it closer to the one Ethan was laid on top of. Deaton laid Aiden on the other as Lydia glued herself to his side and grabbed his hand under Deaton's instructions.

"Can you save them?" Cora asked quickly.

"Only if they start healing on their own," Deaton answered her grimly.

* * *

Scott and Jessie stuck closer to each other's sides next to Deucalion as they saw a figure approach the warehouse under the fog. Jessie gasped when the figure split into two and Derek walked in side by side with Jennifer.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked in shock.

"This might be hard to believe, but I'm actually trying to help you," Derek told him honestly.

"Ooh, like brother against brother—and sister," Deucalion hummed, almost excited yet sarcastic. "How very American this is. Are you ready, Jennifer?" The blind man began to fold up his walking stick as the woman glared deeply at him. "Did you gather your herbs, pray to your ancient gods and your oak trees... slit a baby's throat, perhaps?" He paused, stepping forward, "Should we show them why you needed to sacrifice nine innocent people?" As he spoke his voice grew deeper and more monstrous, hair growing on his face and skin turning a dark black color, "Just to face me? Or is it 12 now?" He eyes grew a deep dark red as he turned full apex predator.

* * *

"It's blocked!" Chris shouted over the wind, looking at the fallen stairs and no opening. He turned to Isaac. "What do you see? Anything?"

The werewolf shook his head. The ceiling above them started to crack and cave in even more. Chris shouted, "Look out!" throwing himself over his daughter to shield her. Isaac pushed Melissa into the Sheriff as the rocks started to hit him. Allison shouted his name, "Isaac!" as the Sheriff reached over and pull Isaac out of the way by the collar of his shirt.

The beam supporting the ceiling above them started to crack and fall. The Sheriff pulled Melissa away, "Melissa, go, go, go."

Isaac stood up under it and pressed his hands to the wooden beam, holding it up so it didn't crush everyone under it. He panted under the excursion, his eyes glowing yellow.

* * *

Derek instantly morphed, his eyes glowing bright blue as he lunged for Deucalion. The Demon-Wolf easily thwarted him and grabbed him by the chest. Jennifer attacked him from the other side, thrusting her hand against his body but her power stopped short. Deucalion laughed sardonically and grabbed her by the throat. He held both her and Derek up with his claws, tossing Derek against some crates and tires. Jessie gasped, going to his side. Deucalion slammed Jennifer onto the ground, the thump echoing.

Scott gaped at the scene before him, turning to check on Derek, seeing Jessie help him up off the floor. He turned to see Deucalion pick Jennifer up by her hair and hold her tightly, "Kill her."

The Demon-Wolf let out a monstrous roar, with Alpha power behind it so strong Scott fell to his knees, instantly transforming.

"Do it," Deucalion commanded. "Now kill her. Your parents are dying. That storm you hear, she's burying them alive. It's her connection to the telluric currents. Kill her, and it ends."

"It won't end," Jennifer argued. "Not with me. He'll have you kill everyone you love. It's what he does."

"They're dying," Deucalion repeated harshly. "Your mother and the parents of your best friends. Kill her now, and it's over. Become the alpha you're meant to be. Become a killer."

"Scott..." Jessie stepped forward, away from Derek. "He's not the way. Remember what I said to you back at the hospital. We always find something else. Remember what I've always told you. We're in this together..."

"From beginning to end," he finished for her, grinning, turning to Deucalion. "They're not dead yet."

"And who's going to save them, your friends?" Deucalion taunted him.

"My pack," Scott replied, standing to his full height, eyes glowing bright yellow.

Deucalion growled angrily, speeding over to Scott and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and his wrist, claws out, "Maybe you just need a little guidance."

Jessie's breath hitched in her throat as Deucalion started dragging Scott towards Jennifer. She held up her hands, trying to tap into her powers to move Deucalion away from Scott, but it wasn't working. She stared at her hands in horror. The one moment she wanted them to work, to help and they were useless.

She felt guilt and anger build up in her and she shouted out, running at Deucalion with all she had. She smacked into the two of them, separating them. Scott gasped from the brunt impact but Deucalion wasn't as fazed. He growled at her, reaching for her throat but she held her hands up, and her powers glowed bright blue as they propelled him into a wall. Scott came up to stand next to her, "I forgot to tell you something. Something that Gerard told me. Deucalion... isn't always blind."

He pulled sparkers out of his pocket and threw them to the ground. Jessie quickly covered her eyes in time for the bright light to flash, blinding all the werewolves in the warehouse.

The wolves stumbled as their eyes adjusted. Jessie looked around when she noticed the dark blue hue of the night switch to a brown tone, knowing what it meant when she noticed Deucalion, Derek and Scott had all be stripped of their wolf forms.

"The eclipse," she commented.

Scott looked around until he noticed that Jennifer wasn't anywhere to be found anymore. "Oh no."

* * *

Isaac groaned when he felt his strength leave his body under the lunar eclipse, "I can't do it," he panted under the weight of the wooden beam, "I can't hold it. I can't hold it," Everyone, the Sheriff, Chris, Allison and Melissa tried to help him hold it up as he called out, "It's too much."

"It's too heavy!" Allison cried as it seemed they'd all capsized under the weight of it as it creaked above them.

Suddenly, Stiles slid into the root cellar with Georgie alive and well behind him. He stuck his new aluminum bat under the beam, supporting it. The Sheriff faced his son, more than a little relieved, "I always said aluminum was better than wood." The son and father hugged tightly.

* * *

Scott, Jessie, Deucalion and Derek starred in terror as the Darrach, in her real scarred face and wrapped in ripped pieces of a black dress. She was gunning for Scott, to get him out of the way but Jessie stood in front of her best friend. He gave her an incredulous look as the vampire held up her hands and thrust them towards the Darrach, propelling her back a few feet.

She roared loudly, thrusting her hands towards Jessie. The girl held her hands up, a brief pale blue force field deflecting the blow, but it sent her stumbling.

Scott quickly got up behind Jessie and caught her before she fell, holding her up. Jessie groaned as she stood up on her own two feet. The Darrach shrieked, throwing her hands up again while they were focused on each other and threw them back into the pile of crates and tires in the back of the warehouse.

She turned to Deucalion and snatched him up, throwing him onto the ground by his neck, much like he had done to her. She held his neck in a vice-like grip and smashed his head into the concrete by the back of his skull. She cried out as she kept smashing his skull into the ground, a small pool of blood forming underneath him.

Scott groaned and stood up. He reached down to help Jessie up but she seemed more out of it from the brunt than he did. He helped her sit up and she cried out in pain. "Jessie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she wheezed out. "One of the crates just scratched me is all. I'll heal."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked her urgently, his eyes widening.

"Yeah," she assured him.

Relieved, he turned away just as Derek stepped up from behind some crates. The older wolf interrupted Jennifer's attack, "Jennifer!"

She paused in her attack and looked over at him, no expression on her slashed up face and mouth. "He doesn't know," Derek told her.

"Know what?" she shouted in a monstrous voice.

"What you really look like," Derek explained. "He knows the cost of bringing Kali into his pack, but he's never seen the price you paid."

She paused, agreeing slowly, "No. No, he hasn't." She slowly pressed her hand to Deucalion's eyes. He started to scream in searing pain, but she only pressed harder. As soon as it started, it was over, and she pulled her hand way. "Turn to me." He started to hyperventilate under the fogging return of his vision. "Turn to me!"

Deucalion slowly turned his head to her, watching the slashed up monster in front of him in utter fear. She reverted back to her prettier face, scowling at him. She lifted her hand, fingers curling in the air as she prepared to strike, but her power didn't work. She fell backwards, Derek there to catch her, "What is this?"

"Healing him made you weak," he explained to her. "Just like healing Cora did to me. You won't have your strength for at least a few minutes."

"Then you do it," she whispered. "Kill him."

"No," he denied, holding her away from himself.

"What?" she surveyed him in confusion.

"Like my mother used to say, I'm a predator," he told her. "I don't have to be a killer."

Jennifer whimpered as he wrapped his hand around her throat. "Let them go."

She snarled at him, shoving him into another wall of crates next to the boiler system quite easily. He groaned in pain. She turned away from him but stopped short when she heard him standing up. She turned back to him. She stepped in front of him and grabbed him, slamming him against the metal boiler. He tried to hold her away from him by her neck but she kept slamming him against the wall. Derek held her back as much as he could, but for the moment she was stronger.

Until the Lunar Eclipse passed. Jennifer paused as if she felt Derek's power return to his body, his eyes glowing bright blue, "Your fifteen minutes are up."

He tried to attack her but she ducked away from him. Derek and Scott tried to lunge for her but she threw her hands up, powder falling around her in a protective circle—mountain ash.

"Like I told you, Derek, either you or the parents," she said harshly to him. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take them now. In a few minutes, they'll be dead, and I won't need a lunar eclipse, even to kill a demon wolf."

Scott lifted both of his hands in front of him, tentatively approaching the perimeter she forged around herself. She smirked when she realized what he was about to try, "You've tried this before, Scott. I don't remember you having much success."

He ignored her, blue waves lighting up as he pressed his hands against the force field, grunting. He pressed harder, and harder, his hands bending the invisible barrier. Jennifer's smirk started to fall as Scott got closer to the inside. He pushed until he could finally step a foot inside the circle, the field exploding, throwing Jennifer to the ground from the force of it.

He stood over her, face blank as she stared up at him in horror, backing away on her hands, "How did you do that?"

"I'm an alpha now," he told her confidently. "Whatever you're doing to cause this storm, make it stop, or I'll kill you myself. I don't care what it does to the color of my eyes."

Before anything else could happen, large vines sprouted from ground, wrapping around Jennifer's body like an anaconda. Smaller but still heavy vines wrapped around her neck as she was pulled up by her throat against the metal wall. They tightened around her skin, her form reverting to her real scarred body as the vines choked the life out of her. Her body went limp as the vines dropped it to the ground.

* * *

In the root cellar, the storm abruptly stopped, all the chaos around the teens and parents halting. Allison looked around, "Is it over?"

Suddenly, wood and vines dropped into the cellar from the opening where the stairs had once been, forming an intricate ladder for them to climb out of. Georgie smiled, knowing exactly who had saved them all.

* * *

Aiden and Ethan were stabilized thanks to Deaton and the assistance of Marissa. Cora helped Ethan stand on his two feet. Aiden laid on his table with Lydia's hand in his on top of his chest, "I knew."

"What?" she asked softly.

"I knew you liked me," he grinned, making her roll her eyes.

* * *

"My mother told me you were a man of vision once," Derek told Deucalion.

"We're letting you go because we hope you can be that man again," Scott told the alpha. "But if you're not, then having your eyesight back won't matter, because you'll never see us coming."

Deucalion nodded mutely, walking away, outside the warehouse.

* * *

Stiles felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as he helped Georgie out of the root cellar. "Scott?" he answered it.

"Hey, are you okay?" he heard Scott's voice.

"Yeah, we're okay," he told him. "We're all okay. How about you, you okay?"

"Sort of," Scott answered.

"Look, we just got out of the cellar, and my jeep isn't far so we'll meet you at your place, okay?" Stiles planned out.

"Sounds good," Scott said.

"Hey, where's Jessie?" Stiles asked as an after-thought. "Did she kick ass?"

* * *

Back in the warehouse, Scott snorted, "Definitely." But then he stopped short, realizing he hadn't heard Jessie say anything since Jennifer threw them earlier. He turned to look at her, she was sat up against the back metal wall, her eyes closed. "Jessie?"

"Dude, what's going on?" Stiles' voice asked over the phone.

Scott ignored him as he called out to Derek, "Derek!" and they raced towards Jessie. Scott kneeled over her and brushed her hair back, "Jessie, wake up!"

She blinked her eyes opened tiredly, "I'm sorry, Scott. I'm so sorry."

"What happened—you weren't that hurt, were you?" he asked frantically, looking for any wounds.

She sluggishly pulled her jacket away from where she held it over her abdomen, revealing a thick piece of wood from the crate sticking out from her chest where it stabbed through her. "If I told you sooner... you wouldn't have beaten her. Would've been distracted."

"We need to get her to a hospital," Derek said quickly as Scott starred in horror at his best friend mortally injured.

"It's too late for that," Sonia's voice rang through the warehouse. "You must take her to Deaton."

"Where'd you come from?" Derek asked.

She gestured to the vines that killed Jennifer, "Who did you think was responsible for that? It doesn't matter now, you must take her to Deaton's clinic. He's already there."

"Hold on, Jessie," Scott begged her as he scooped her up in his arms. "Just for a little while. We'll save you."

* * *

Stiles phone fell away from his ear, looking at the group. Isaac's face grew worried, "What's wrong with Jessie? Stiles?"

"I don't..." he trailed off, just as worried, "I don't know."

* * *

Scott chewed on his thumbnail nervously as he sat in the waiting room with the others. Allison and her dad sat in some chairs, worry on their faces. Derek leaned against the wall next to the door. Stiles and his father stood in the opposite corner. Isaac paced the floor with Cora, Lydia and the twins watching from Jessie's desk as Deaton, Melissa and Marissa worked on Jessie in the back room.

Everyone flinched when they heard a loud shriek of pain come from Jessie. Lydia cried silently into her hands. Aiden reached over and wrapped his arms around her.

"This is all my fault," Scott whispered to himself.

"No it isn't," Sonia told him as she walked in with Georgie. "The girl knew exactly what she was doing when she made the choice to help you."

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked harshly.

"A Seer that works with the Duster Family foresaw Jessie's inevitable death, if she faced the Darrach with you," Sonia told them. "Alex and Emily warned her, told her to leave Beacon Hills in order to live. But she chose to stay and fight by your side, boy-wolf."

"Oh my god," Allison breathed out. "She sacrificed herself."

Marissa quietly walked out to the lobby, blood covering her clothes. Derek jumped to her side. Everyone else jumped up onto their feet. Isaac got right into her face, "Where's Jessie? Is she okay?"

Marissa looked like she was about to cry, "Deaton is still working on her. There was nothing more that I could do in there."

"Is she going to be okay?" Stiles asked worriedly.

"I don't know," she whispered.

"What about you, Georgie?" Stiles turned to his girlfriend. "Can't you use one of those spells in your little book?"

She faced him, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, "How do you know about that?"

"I—I found it," he told her. "In the crash, you were really hurt. It didn't—it didn't look like you were going to wake up," he paused, remembering the emotions he went through when he thought she wouldn't make it. "Your book fell out of your pocket so I read some spells out of it."

"And it worked?" Sonia asked, slightly shocked.

"Yeah, and it can work for Jessie too," Stiles rushed out. "Go—help her!"

Georgie gave him a reluctant work, "Those spells are small, Stiles. They're only meant to work on small wounds, cuts, bruises. Even if they did work on her, they wouldn't do much. The rest would be up to her, if she can heal fast enough."

"Do whatever you can," Isaac insisted, his heart rising just to plummet again as he thought of Jessie's broken body.

* * *

Hours passed until both Deaton, Melissa and Georgie walked back into the lobby with deep frowns on their faces. The group all faced them in anticipation.

"Well?" Isaac asked quickly.

Melissa had tears falling out of her eyes. Georgie slowly shook her head as Stiles came closer to her, wrapping his arms around her.

"What?" Scott gasped. "No, she's okay right? She's got to be okay."

"I'm so sorry, Scott," Melissa whispered to her son. "There's nothing more we can do. She isn't healing like you."

"Georgie tried nearly every spell in her book," Deaton explained. "But none of them worked. She has an... emotional block on her powers. She isn't letting herself heal."

"Like Scott when he thought Derek died," Allison guessed. "Can't you just patch her up? Make her think it's healing and—and then she'll heal."

"We tried," Melissa answered the girl. "She won't make it through the night. Maybe you should all say your goodbyes..."

The room was suddenly quiet, no one knowing who should go first. Deaton took control, "She asked for Allison."

All eyes turned to the girl in question. "Me?" Allison pointed to herself hesitantly.

"Go on," Deaton encouraged her.

Allison slowly, tentatively walked through the doorway to the back room. After a little while, she walked out, her face wet with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What did you talk about?" Chris asked his daughter.

"She forgave me," the girl whispered, letting her father hug her to him.

One by one, people took time to go the back room to see her. Until it was only Scott and Isaac left.

"Go ahead, man," Scott told Isaac, not knowing if he could face her when she was dying because of him.

Isaac took a deep breath and walked back, the breath leaving him when he saw her body laying limp on the steel table. She smiled weakly, "Hey."

"Why did you stay—if you knew?" he asked her quietly. "You could have left—and you'd be okay."

"But you guys might not have been," she wheezed. "I'm sorry, Isaac. I couldn't leave you behind."

"We would have been fine, Jessie," he whispered, taking a seat next to her, taking her hand in his tightly. "As long as you were okay, we would have been fine. But you're..."

"I'm dying," Jessie gasped out loud. "I'm sorry, Isaac."

Isaac stared at the girl he's loved for what's felt like a lifetime, not knowing what he could possibly say. "Please don't go. Jessie—just heal. Okay? For me. For all of us."

"I wish I could..." she swore, "I do. I just... wanted to say goodbye..."

"I don't want to say goodbye," Isaac cut her off, squeezing her hand.

Jessie began to cry silently, croaking, "You have to... Isaac, you have to. I don't want to go either."

"I love you," he confessed quietly, "Jessie, I love you. I don't think I'm ever going to not love you."

"I'll always love you too," Jessie told him honestly. "That was never going to change. But you need to move on. Please. For me. For you. Find some way to be happy and don't you dare stop fighting."

Isaac sobbed into his hands on top of hers, "I can—I can't do this. You were the reason I became what I am, you've been the reason I've fought for my life. You're the first person who looked at me and saw something in me. I'm nothing without the definition you've given me."

"It's still there, Isaac, it's in you," she weakly told him. "It always was. You can do this, I promise you."

He leaned his forehead onto hers and pressed his lips to hers. She let him, if only to make saying goodbye easier. He pulled away quietly, "I love you."

"I love you too," Jessie said.

He pulled away and awkwardly cleared his throat, "I'll got get Scott."

Isaac walked outside, roughly wiping under his eyes, "Scott—you're up."

Scott shook his head, "I can't... I can't..."

"Sweetie, look at me," Melissa grabbed her son's attention. "This is not your fault. But if you do not go in there right now, and she dies, you'll regret it forever, I promise. There is nothing to be afraid of anymore. You need to say goodbye to your best friend, sweetie."

Scott nodded slowly, breaking away from his mother to walk into the back room. He paused just before the room, taking a deep breath. He walked in, feel his heart constrict when he saw her laying on the table, limp as a rag doll. Her chest fell rapidly up and down, breaths wheezing out of her mouth painfully. Her eyelids were falling down but her eyes fell on him, looking unfocused, "...Scott..."

He had to almost hold his breath, to hold the tears back, "Jessie... why the hell did you stay? Why did you tell us?"

She swallowed loudly, "If I did... you wouldn't have let me—help."

"But you'd be alive..." he replied in disbelief. "I wouldn't care if you left us behind if it meant you'd live. What are we supposed to do now?"

"Keep going," she whispered. "Don't worry about me anymore. You have so much on your shoulders that you forget that you have a life to live."

"Why?" Scott asked. "Everything I do, every time I try to help, people keep getting killed. It got your dad in a coma, it got your brother killed, almost killed our parents, now I've gotten you killed."

"I knew exactly what I was doing, Scott," she assured him softly. "And I don't regret a thing. I don't. I've been so tired of fighting for months... I'm not tired anymore..."

"Jessie..." Scott leaned over her, brushing her hair out of her face, cupping her cheek, "I..."

Just then he heard commotion from the lobby and heavy footsteps and turned to see Alex and Connor – the guy he'd met at the bank the night he saved Deaton – practically sprinting into the clinic.

"Hello Scott," Connor greeted in his Irish brogue.

"Scott," Alex spoke quickly and hastily, "we may have a way to save Jessie—but it involves changing her."

"What?" Isaac asked, racing into the room after them. Stiles, Georgie, Allison, Lydia, Derek and Deaton all piled into the room after them.

"How?" Scott asked, standing close to Jessie's head, absently stroking her hair.

"With this," Alex answered, holding up a necklace chain with a vile of thick red liquid.

"Is that blood?" Lydia asked disgustedly.

"Not just any blood," Connor answered her. "Pure vampire blood. Jessie's father and his family each had a vile of it. They carried it around to remind them of their roots."

"Also, they knew they would get full vampire power if they drank it," Alex cut in. "Even if they weren't full blooded vampires—like Jessie, like her father."

"Will it save her life?" Allison asked loudly.

"Full blooded vampires could heal four times faster than werewolves and any other supernatural creature," Deaton reached into his memory. "If she drinks it and changes in time then she'll heal almost instantly."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, give it to her now!" Isaac growled.

Alex walked over to Jessie's side, holding her head up, and tilted the vile of blood into her mouth. "Drink it, Jessie," Alex begged her. "Please—it'll save your life."

Jessie gagged at the taste, but forced herself to swallow it. She gasped when she had finished, trying to swallow all of it down, breathing harshly through her nose.

"How will we know if it worked?" Scott asked hopefully.

"If she changes, then she'll heal instantly and be okay," Alex said. "We just have to wait and see."

"How long?" Isaac asked, practically shaking.

"We don't know, mate," Connor told the werewolf.

Isaac gave the older man a suspicious expression, "Who are you?"

"Someone who wants Jessie to live just as much as any of you," he answered cryptically.

The group all waited with baited breath to see if the blood would really save Jessie's life. Her eyes drifted closed, but suddenly, her breathing spiked and her body started seizing on the table. Her mouth opened to let out a loud shriek that had all the werewolves holding their ears in pain. Alex and Deaton lept forward to hold her still, hoping beyond hope that this was her transformation.

But her body suddenly dropped just as quickly as it had seized, motionless. Her breathing remained rapid for a few moments before it began to slow. Scott trained his ears in on her heartbeat, feeling his heart practically skip a beat when her heart slowed to a stop.

"Her heart isn't beating anymore..." he stated in disbelief, "It's not beating anymore... why isn't it—is that part of it?"

Connor and Alex both exchanged sorrowful looks that said all they needed to say.

Scott stumbled back into another counter, jars clanging from the impact. He looked around the room with wide eyes. He saw Isaac and Derek embrace, the younger wolf practically hanging off of his former alpha in grief. Stiles had fallen to a chair, Georgie hugging his shoulder with tears in her eyes. Lydia and Allison hugged each other, both crying silently. Alex still leaned over Jessie's dead body in pain, Connor stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder but it did little to help his sadness.

Jessie Hansen was dead.


	21. Epilogue

The sun was out but Allison still felt darkness hovering over her body as she woke and got ready for school. She dressed in a black dress, as some sort of testament to the friend they couldn't truly mourn. Alex and Connor had taken Jessie's body to bury her with her birth parents in the Sange tomb. They couldn't explain her getting impaled by crates from the distillery, so she was destined to turn into one of Beacon Hills runaways.

Allison walked passed her father's office, stopping when she noticed he was packing away his weapons. She stood in the doorway, "Back to storage?"

"That's the plan," he told her.

"What if I've got a different plan?" she posed for him. "Deaton said that what we did in order to find you—he said it might draw things here, make Beacon Hills kind of a beacon again."

"I hope not," Chris answered her sincerely.

"I was thinking that maybe I should be prepared," she told him. "Learn to be a better fighter and learn all the things that you can still teach me."

"And maybe a few things more," Chris added, hesitant.

Allison nodded, "But we're going to have a new code." She spoke a eloquent statement in french.

Chris let the corners of his mouth quirk up, "We protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"Jessie died for us—for that belief," Allison spoke, her voice shaking a little. "I have to honor her and honor our family, the way we should have done things from the beginning."

* * *

Scott sat, almost numb, with Deaton in the lobby of the clinic, just staring at what used to be Jessie's desk. He'd gone through his first day of school without her, three days after her death. He thought back to all that had happened since. Derek was packing to leave with Marissa and Cora, to get away.

"I honestly don't know if he's ever coming back," Scott told his boss. "And part of me hopes so, but another part hopes that maybe he'll be okay somewhere else."

Deaton listened to the boy, wishing he could do more to help with his grief.

But Scott could only hope to distract himself.

"My dad doesn't look like he's gonna be leaving for a while. But just because he's staying... doesn't mean he's welcome."

He clasped his hands together, sighing, "Stiles and I both feel it every day, just like you said we would. And it makes me think about that quote Jennifer used to start out first class. Because when I feel it, yeah, it's like... I'm looking into the hart of an immense darkness."

"So, what do you do instead?" Deaton asked him.

"I look for my friends," Scott told him. "I look for Jessie... but I don't see her." He paused as something occurred to him, "What's going to happen to her father?"

"He's still being treated according to Melissa," Deaton told him. "And that it actually looks like he'll wake up any day now."

"What are we supposed to tell him?" Scott asked, feeling guilt rack his body. "Both his son and daughter are dead."

"He will grieve just like we all will," Deaton told him.

* * *

Scott slowly walked downstairs of his house. He paused slightly when he saw Isaac sitting at the kitchen counter, holding a mug. The other boy noticed him and nodded, "Melissa made pancakes. She had to go to work though."

"Okay," Scott nodded, taking out some milk and a glass. "Did you do the history homework?"

"No," Isaac shook his head distractedly.

Scott was about to say something when the doorbell rang throughout the house. Scott and Isaac looked at each other confused. They weren't expecting anyone to come over this morning. And Stiles would just walk in or break in if it was him. Scott and Isaac just walked over to the door and opened it. There was a mailman there.

"Good morning," the young man greeted brightly. "Are either of you Scott McCall?"

Scott gaped a little bit but pointed to himself, "That's me."

The man handed him a medium sized box, "Here you go. I need you to sign here."

Scott signed for the package and bid the mailman a good day before closing the door. "What is that?" Isaac asked.

Scott shrugged, setting the box on the kitchen island counter, "I don't know." He peered at the label, "It's from someone named... Nick Burkhardt in Portland, Oregon."

"Who is that?" Isaac asked curiously.

"I don't know any Nick Burkhardt," Scott answered, using his claws to open up the box, pulling back the flaps to reveal a Grimm Bestiary. Scott felt some foreboding feeling in his chest as he pulled it out of the box.

"That's Jessie's!" Isaac commented in shock, going over to stand by Scott and peer into the box. Scott pulled a sticky note off of the book that said;  _You'll need this soon. Take care of it._

"We'll need the bestiary?" Isaac said out loud. "Who even had that? It's Jessie's."

"There's something else," Scott said, reaching into the box to take out a manila envelope with something written on it. "Oh my god."

"What?" Isaac asked, and Scott showed him what was written on the envelope.

_I'm alive._

* * *

The McCall living room had become populated with school-ditching teenagers, a former Alpha Werewolf, his sister and the head of the house. Lydia, Allison and Georgie sat on the couch, the first two clasping hands in between their legs. Stiles sat on the arm of the couch next to Georgie, an arm around her shoulder. Derek leaned against the mantle of the fake fire place, arms crossed stoically. Cora stood next to him, somewhat awkwardly. Melissa sat in an arm chair with Isaac sitting on the arm of it. They all stared at Scott who stood in front of them with a large manila envelope.

"This arrived this morning," Scott mumbled. "From Portland, Oregon."

"What is it?" Lydia drawled.

"It's from Jessie," Scott revealed.

Everyone sat up straighter or stood from their perches in shock.

"What?" Derek demanded.

"What—what does that mean?" Stiles asked, stammering. "Scott—she's dead. Jessie died last week."

Scott turned the envelope around to reveal sharp black writing, "It's in her writing. Guys—she's alive."

"And in Portland?" Lydia snapped. "Why? Why isn't she here?"

"She explains that here," Scott held up the envelope.

"What does it say, Scott?" Melissa asked tentatively.

He turned the envelope towards him again and prepared to read it, but his mouth got stuck on the words, "I..."

Melissa stood up from her seat on the armchair and gingerly took the envelope from her son's grasp. She turned it towards her and took a breath, "The blood worked. It just worked slowly."

Allison let out a breath of relief, that confirmation being what she needed. She intertwined her own fingers together in anticipation.

Melissa continued in a shaky voice, "I have a distant cousin on the Grimm side of my family up here in Oregon. His name is Nick. Alex took me to his house to meet my Great Aunt Sienna from my mother's side of the family, she can help me. The blood – it unlocked powers inside me meant to be dormant. And it unlocked other sides of me, unstable sides. I don't have control. It's too dangerous for me to be around you guys, for me to be in Beacon Hills surrounded by all the supernatural things that will be drawn there. When I have control of myself, I can come back. I don't know when, but I know that I'll keep working and fighting to get there."

Melissa paused, peering into the envelope, "There are letters in here."

"For us?" Stiles asked meekly. He felt Georgie take his hand and peered down at her, squeezing her hand in return.

"Here," Melissa whispered, handing him a three-folded piece of paper.

He took it carefully as if it was on fire.

"Allison," Melissa handed her a letter. She then turned to Derek, handing him one as well. Derek stared at the paper, his thumb creasing the edge of the paper. She paused at the next name, "There's one for Peter." She looked at Derek. At his nod, she handed him the letter meant for his uncle. She handed one to Lydia, then Isaac, then Georgie. She paused, looking at the next letter in confusion.

"What is it, Mom?" Scott asked, concerned.

"It's a letter for me..." she murmured.

"Well, you were part of her life too," Scott replied. "It makes sense."

Melissa set aside her letter and handed the last one to Scott, "Here you go, sweetie."

They all handled their letters like their were lethal weapons or as if they held all the answers to all the secrets of the world. Georgie sighed loudly, looking up from her letter, "Is it just me, or is anyone else not ready to read these?"

There was a collective murmur of agreement.

"Why don't we just head out and read them when we're... ready?" Stiles shrugged.

They agreed, and one by one made their way out of the house.

* * *

Lydia didn't respond to her mother's greeting when she arrived back home. She ignored all of Aiden's texts as she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom and sat at the foot of her bed. She just carefully unfolded the piece of paper and let her eyes soak in the words.

_Lydia,_

_At first, we didn't really like each other I guess. I was just a tag-a-long to Allison. But in such a short amount of time you've grown so much. And I was glad to call you my friend._

_I know you don't know anything about what being a banshee means just yet. Honestly, I don't have much to tell you about it either. But maybe there's something in my family beastiary. Feel free to look through. But you're a hell of a lot smarter than anyone gives you credit for. I'm sure you'll figure it out._

_I don't want you to look for me. I don't want you to find me and bring me back like I'm sure you've already suggested. It's like you learning how to control your new abilities, only mine are volatile. Once I've got it figured out, I'll come back._

_But if you ever need me, really need me, just scream, and I'll be there._

Lydia let the letter fall out of her hands and laid back down on her bed, feel tears fall down her temples onto the comforter beneath her.

* * *

Marissa was in the middle of packing an overnight bag with everything she'd need for an extended period of time, toiletries, clothes etc. She looked up when she heard the heavy sliding door rumble against the floor as Derek pushed it open. "Hey, what did Scott want?"

Derek was numbly walking towards the window, staring aimlessly.

Cora decided to answer for him, still as confused as he was, "Jessie is alive."

"What?" Marissa gasped. "How is that possible? I—I mean—we saw her..."

"The blood worked," Derek remarked bluntly. "And Alex took her to Portland to learn to control her new powers."

"Why take her away?" she asked. "Why couldn't she stay here if she lived?"

"It's too dangerous for her here," Derek murmured his answer, his eyes falling to the folded letter in his hands.

"What's that?" Marissa asked him, standing in front of him with a concerned expression.

"A letter from her..." Derek whispered.

Marissa carefully took it from his hands and unfolded it for him. She gently placed the unfolded piece of paper back in his hands, "Why don't you read it?"

Derek let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding when he read the first greeting.

_Hey Derek_

It was so casual, and so her. It was further proof that she really was alive and well somewhere. And suddenly, he didn't care that she was gone. As long as she was okay.

_I'm so sorry about all of this. I know it must have been hard to watch all of that. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all what was happening. I woke up in Alex's car already leaving Beacon Hills. And I've been asleep for like three days._

_I will come back. I have a feeling, even though you plan on leaving Beacon Hills – don't ask me how I know that – I have a feeling you'll be there when I get back._

_But just in case this is the first time one of my feelings is wrong, I want you to know that I love you like family. To me, there's no difference between Hales, Grimms, Sanges or Hansens. We met when you were a child and I was a baby and when my family moved to Beacon Hills, I feel like we both felt that pull back to each other as living links to the families that were torn away from us. And I don't care what happens between us or around us, I will never leave you behind._

_Yes, I realize I just left... But I just told you I'd be back. And it's not impossible to contact me if you're up the river without a paddle. You know I'd be there in a heartbeat._

_I don't want this to sound like a goodbye forever letter, so I'll end it here. I'll miss you until we see each other again._

_Love,_

_Jessie._

* * *

"What did Scott want?" Chris Argent asked his daughter the minute she walked back in the front door. He didn't want to admit it but he had been anxiously awaiting her return, fearing another supernatural crisis before they'd even recovered from the first one.

"Dad..." Allison murmured in slight surprise, she didn't expect him to be right there, "Jessie is alive. The blood worked."

"What?" Chris asked slowly. "What does that mean for her?"

Allison slightly shrugged, "Her powers are stronger. And there's more of them. We don't really know what to expect because there hasn't been a full blooded vampire in centuries. But they're... volatile. She doesn't have control. So, she's working on it up in Portland. And then she'll come back."

Chris absorbed the information, noticing the piece of paper clutched in her hands.

"What is that?"

Allison clutched the letter tighter and looked at it as if she'd forgotten that she had it. "Oh... it's a letter from her."

"What do you think it says?" Chris asked slowly.

She shook her head, "I don't—I don't know."

Her father took the letter from her hands and unfolded it for her, "Why don't you read it?"

"Yeah," she gulped. "Yeah. I should, um, read it in my room." She took the letter and slowly stalked down the hallway to her room. She set the letter down on her bed and stripped her jacket off, setting it at the foot of the bed before sitting down. She pulled up the letter, prepared to read it, but her mind wandered to the night Jessie died, when she went in to say her goodbyes.

_Allison made her way to the back room of the vet's clinic, gasping, covering her mouth with her hand when she saw Jessie laying pale and bloody on the steal operating table. She rushed to her side, taking one of her hands in hers, "Oh my god, Jessie."_

" _You should see the other guy," she croaked._

_Allison was at a loss for words, "Wha—why?"_

_Jessie swallowed a lump in her throat, "Any one of us would do the same. Facing certain death – we wouldn't run and hide."_

" _I'm—I'm so sorry," Allison whispered, tears streaming down her face. She didn't know what she was apologizing for this time, but the words felt the need to come out._

" _Don't be, anymore," Jessie sighed. "After Baako died, I wanted to kill Kali. I didn't care about myself, or what killing her would mean, I just wanted her dead. And I wanted Jennifer dead for what she did to my dad. But when they finally were dead... I didn't feel lighter or fulfilled. I felt dead too. But after all of that, I understand what happens to your mind when you lose someone you love like that. I get what changed in you when your mom died. I get that you just needed someone to blame, needed some kind of closure and you thought vengeance would give that to you. I get it."_

_Allison sobbed, "Jessie..."_

" _I'm saying I forgive you," she whispered abruptly. "I do. I'm sorry it had to happen like this."_

Allison wiped the tears she hadn't noticed fell down her face and clutched the letter in her hands, beginning to read it.

_Allison,_

_I know you didn't believe me when I forgave you on my death bed. I know you thought I only did it to give you peace of mind in my death. But now I'm alive again and telling you that I really do forgive you. I know now where you mind must have been when your mother died. You blamed Derek because it was easier and convenient and Gerard manipulated you. I know that. When Baako died I wanted Kali dead more than anything – and I wanted to be the one to do it._

_But just in case we haven't learned from our pasts, I want to tell you that that kind of path is not the answer. Vengeance gets us nowhere. Eye for an eye and all that jazz. Letting that kind of hate take you over won't get you anywhere. Trust me, it's not worth it. It is much better to simply let it go._

_Now... I don't want you to blame yourself for anything that's happened. We're all kids, doing the very best we can. And that's all that can be expected of us. We aren't supposed to be dealing with kanimas and Darachs and psycho alphas. We're supposed to be dealing with prom plans and worrying about boys, not unstoppable powers or big family dysfunction because of a werewolf hunting life style. We all pulled the short stick in life, but we just need to use that stick as a cane and keep walking with it. Some day it'll be better, we'll know what we're doing and truly be able to help people. Some day we'll save some one._

_Don't worry about me. It isn't home here but it doesn't matter. I'll be back, I promise, and then I'll forgive you in person._

_See you soon,_

_Jessie._

* * *

Stiles used his house key to let himself and Georgie inside his home. It was quiet since his dad was at the station so he didn't bother walking upstairs for privacy. He fell onto his couch in a heap of limbs. Georgie quietly sat next to him with both of their letters in her hands, "Do you want to read it?"

Stiles shook his head, resting his chin on his clasped hands, "I don—I don't know. What could it possibly say?"

"That she loves you, and she'll come back," Georgie offered. "Stiles, she's your best friend. And she's alive. You haven't lost her."

"It still feels like I did," Stiles croaked. "I wat—watched her die that night. There was nothing we could do."

"But she didn't die," Georgie insisted. "She's alive."

"Because of Alex, not us," Stiles argued. "We were powerless until he came in a saved the day."

"But she's alive," she repeated. "Isn't that enough? Does it really matter why she's alive?"

Stiles was quiet, looking down at the ground, "I guess not. I just... wish she was here. I wish I could have made a difference when it was my best friend's life on the line, literally. But I was useless."

"Stiles, you're not useless," she argued with him. "Half the time it's your know-how and detective skills that saves everybody's asses. You're the one who figured out Scott was a werewolf before he knew and accepted it. You're the one who knows more about lycanthropy than him. You found out Kate was the one who set the fire. You knew it was Matt who was controlling Jackson. You sacrificed yourself to find your father in time to save his life. You... you were able to read spells to heal me... that's..."

He looked at her when she trailed off, "That's what?"

She considered her answer, "That's..." impossible, incredible, unbelievable, "that's amazing..."

She gently unfolded his letter and put it in his hands, "Read it."

Stiles licked his lips, shaking his head, "You first."

Georgie sighed and nodded, unfolding her letter and reading it to herself.

_Georgie,_

_We didn't get to get close before everything happened, but you are my friend. And being a witch doesn't change that. You helped us, and I have to thank you for that._

_But I have to ask you something. Watch out for my boys. Don't let Stiles, Scott, or Isaac blame themselves for what happened because it's guaranteed that they will. And since I'm not there to do it, I need you to step in._

_I'm sure you're already trying to convince Stiles that being human doesn't make him useless. I think that's always been an insecurity for him. You need to help him see the immense strength he really has. He has been one of the most important people in our lives, the backbone of our little pack and he needs to realize that._

_As for Scott and Isaac, I know they both care for me and blame themselves for what happened to me. But you can't let them. Please watch out for them._

_-Jessie._

"She asked me to watch out for you guys," Georgie told her boyfriend, smiling. "Now, your turn."

Stiles sighed and opened his mouth, but said nothing. He turned his attention to the letter and read it.

_Stiles,_

_To start off, don't you dare blame yourself for what happened. You're only human and that is no weakness. Your humanity and your brilliance has gotten us out of deep shit situations more than once. You've got to stop being so hard on yourself. You're my best friend, you know that. And we'd both do anything for each other. I know that, so I don't blame you for anything that happened._

_I know it was hard on you and Scott. And I know it must be a real kicker to suddenly hear that I'm alive. I understand if you're mad at me for not staying in Beacon Hills. If it helps, Alex sort of made that decision without my input. I'm glad he did take me away though. Things are nearly just as hectic here with my cousin but I have time to find my own anchor and get control._

_I've met my Aunt Sienna. She's Wanda's sister on my mother's side. She and Wanda had some big spat when they were in their twenties and never looked back. Ever since, Sienna has been working with my Aunt Marie to protect the Duster line of the Grimm family – Wanda was the Torvus side – and protecting people from supernatural beings. This is my calling. Unfortunately Aunt Marie died over a year ago. She was attacked by something called a Reaper when she came to tell my cousin Nick about the whole Grimm thing. She was already dying of cancer though._

_Nick had no idea about being a Grimm. The sight didn't come to him until a little over a year ago, then he started seeing the real monsters behind peoples' faces. They're called wesen, a whole different line of strange than what we get in Beacon Hills. There haven't been any wesen in Beacon Hills that I know of, but they can hide their real identities. Maybe I won't get the sight yet, I haven't seen any wesen yet. Nick is getting his friend Monroe – who is similar to a werewolf – to come over and try showing me. We'll see if it works._

_I've gotten so many answers about a part of me I thought would always be a secret. Sienna never knew my parents, so she can't tell me how or why they died or who killed them. That may be something I have to find out for myself or something I'll never know. I may have to live with that, I don't know._

_So, don't feel guilty that I ended up up here. It's not home, that will always be Beacon Hills with you, but it's not bad. I'm getting to know family I would have never met without all of this. Aunt Sienna is lovely and has been helping me discover my Grimm roots. My cousin Nick is new to all of this too so we're sort of experiencing it together. And he's nice to talk to. He's had a hard time since discovering his Grimm side and having to adjust._

_And Alex has been bending over backwards to make me happy and help me find out everything I want to know about my family. He's gone out of his way and put himself in danger to calm me down when I lose control. He really does love me. It makes me hate myself that I can't love him back. But he knows that and still, he stays. I don't get it._

_I'm getting carried away. I'm not writing all of this for everyone else because I'm sure you're the one who can absorb all the new information and give everyone else an update._

_But just... don't be too hard on yourself. You're my best friend and that will never change. I love you. And I'll be back, I promise._

_Jessie_

* * *

Melissa excused herself to her bedroom, giving her son and Isaac some privacy and getting some privacy herself to read her letter.

_Hey Melissa,_

_I know you don't know it, but you are very important to me. I don't know what it is, you're awesome. I guess you've somehow stepped in for my mom ever since she and Beth left for LA. That's not really fair but whatever._

_I know Scott loves you more than anything. And you've done so well with accepting all this new supernatural shit that's been thrown at you, even when you're locked in a jail cell at gunpoint by a teenager or being kidnapped to be sacrificed by a scarred up English teacher._

_You have a the spirit that I see in Scott. The man he is today, the one that had the kind of character to lift him up to Alpha status without killing anyone for it, is all because of you. I hope you keep that spirit throughout all of this and whatever comes next. Because Scott is going to need it. I've seen him lose hope, feel defeated, but it's the spark he gets from you that gets him back off the ground when he's down. Honestly, he's the one I worry for the most, because he feels like he has the fate of us all on his shoulders. I know he blames himself for what happened to me, I know he's going to be struggling with that for a long time, especially when he has yet to see me alive and well in front of him. You're his mother, so I know you will look out for him, but I'm asking you to keep his spirit alive, his spark going. For me too._

_Scott may be the leader of this untraditional pack we have, but you're the glue. Jennifer knew how important you were, that's why she took you. Without you, our Guardians, we would all fall apart._

_One more thing, can you please be there for my family? I hope with Jennifer gone, my dad will recover. And I know my mom and Bethany will probably come back to be with him. Can you explain everything to them for me? It's too painful for me right now. Just let them know that I'm okay, that I'll be back. That's really all I can do to reassure them. And that I'm sorry. They're going to need someone, and if it can't be me, maybe it can be you._

_Don't ever underestimate the power of your spirit._

_With great love and admiration,_

_Jessie._

* * *

Isaac was sitting on the couch, holding the open letter in his hand, but not reading it. He was still trying to get his head around the fact that Jessie was alive. She was alive. He had been completely destroyed when he listened to her heart beat slow to a full stop. He had been hoping against hope for her to be safe and come back to him. And now she was, but had not come back to him, or anyone. She was still gone off somewhere else. Yes, they knew where. And in the back of his mind, he was plotting to go to Portland, and drag her back home, even as a volatile vampire. But first, he wanted to know what she had to say to him.

_Isaac,_

_I honestly have no idea where to even start with this letter. I could say the same kind of things over and over again and they wouldn't even cover what I'm feeling right now. I'm sorry. I love you. Those words don't seem like enough._

_So, I guess I have no choice but to go with the deep truth, even if it hurts. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to leave any of you. And even though we broke up, it doesn't mean I suddenly stopped caring about you. You're always going to be one of the most important people in my life. And I am always going to be there for you, wanting to help you, protect you. It's that kind of feeling that went into my decision to stay behind with you guys even after Alex and Emily told me doing so would mean my death. And I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I showed them, huh? Still alive, bitches!_

He couldn't help but laugh at that part. Leave it to Jessie to make him find the humor in her predicted doom.

_I could never have left you guys to that fight alone. I realize that I'm gone from Beacon Hills now, but that part wasn't my choice. I see the wisdom in that choice now though. Alex made the right call. I've been struggling with control since the moment I woke up. I'm actually astounded that I've been able to sit still long enough to write these letters. So, I may be away for a while. I have no idea how long it will take me. None of us do. It's not like we have access to vampire archives or a teacher I could turn to. All we have is Grimm lore, and that tells us nothing about what vampires do to control themselves or harness their powers. Just, you know, how to kill them._

_But please don't come looking for me. I know what you must be thinking but I don't want any of you to see me like this. I just couldn't handle your opinions of me changing because of what I'm going through right now. Be patient. I promise that I'll be back as soon as I'm ready. And I'm never too far away if any of yous really need me. But let's keep it to life or death, okay?_

_The reason this letter has been so hard to write is because you're one of the hardest people I have to say goodbye to – even if it is a temporary goodbye. I know when I get back, things won't be the same between us. But I hope we'll always be close. I hope you know how much I do still care for you and take comfort in that and the fact that I'm alive._

_I'll see you again, Isaac. Someday._

_Love, Jessie._

Isaac let out a breath just as he heard Melissa walk back downstairs. The older woman quipped from the entryway, "Jessie sure has a way with words, huh?"

Isaac let himself chuckled in good humor, "Yeah. Yeah, she does."

"How are you, Isaac?" she asked in concern, taking a seat next to him.

He shrugged, folding up his letter again, "She has no idea when she'll be able to come back. It could be weeks, months, maybe even years. How long does she expect us to just wait for her to be ready to come back?"

"As long as she needs," Melissa answered, putting a motherly arm around him. "We have to respect that and give her time. She'll come back. This is her home."

Slowly, he nodded, "Right."

Melissa looked around, "Where did Scott go?"

Isaac gestured out of the room, "He just folded up the letter and went to his room. He didn't look good."

"Okay," Melissa sighed, standing up. "Keep your head up, kid. Jessie's a strong girl, she'll be back here in fighting shape in no time."

Isaac accepted her kiss on the cheek before she went upstairs. She lightly knocked on Scott's room but got no answer. She waited a second and knocked again, hearing the muffled voice of her son call for her to come in. She found him sitting numbly at his desk, the letter open in front of him. But he wasn't reading it. Just staring off.

"Did you read it?" she asked, coming to sit at the foot of his bed so she could talk to him.

He shook his head, "I can't do it. I can't admit to myself that she's really not coming back."

Melissa reached over to lay her hand on his forearm, "But Scott, she is. Of course she is. She loves all of you so much, this is her home. There's no way she isn't coming back."

"What if she can't come back, mom?" he asked, looking over at her, so lost and defeated. "What if, whatever she's going through, never ends? And she can never come back? What are we supposed to do then?"

"That won't happen," she swore. "Jessie is one of the strongest girls I've ever met. You know that. She was on the brink of death, in a way that no one else would have been able to come back from – but she did. She was dead. And now she's not. That alone can attest to the fact that she's stronger than you're giving her credit for right now. Whatever is changing within her, will run it's course, and she'll be right back here beside you, ready to face whatever is thrown at you all."

He didn't say anything to answer her. So, she pulled his chair around so he had to face her fully. "Remember, when I told you that if you didn't say goodbye to her, you'd regret it?"

He nodded.

"Well, if you don't read that letter, you'll regret that too," she answered him. "Your best friend is reaching out to you, giving you something of her to hold onto while she's away. You need to meet her halfway, and accept what she can offer right now. She loves you. She's do anything for you. I think she's proven that. Now, you have to do this for her. You have to read that letter, accept what she's telling you, and keep going. She needs you to still be her best friend  _when_  she comes back."

Slowly, he reached to pick up the letter from his desk. Melissa stood and gave him a hug, "I'll give you some privacy. But I'm here if you need to talk about anything, sweetie."

"Thanks, mom," he answered her as she left his room, holding his letter up so he could read it.

_Scott,_

_It's not your fault._

_It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. I could write it a million times if that's what it took to get it to sink in for you. I made my own choice to stand by you, knowing what would happen. And I would make the same choice over and over again. It really isn't a choice. I just would. I would never run away just because I was scared. I could have never abandoned any of you like that._

_I owe you so much, Scott. You were the first friend I ever made here. You became my best friend in the world that I will love forever, just for being there for me whenever I needed someone. Even when I didn't say anything, you just knew and were there. You have this spirit in you that I draw strength from. It's the spark that made you a true Alpha. It's what makes you the leader of this pack we've built and the one that we turn to when things start going bad._

_But it's not all on you, okay? You need to accept the support from your pack. That means Stiles, Lydia, Derek, Isaac, Allison, Georgie, your mother. Even me. I know I'm not there right now, and I'm so sorry for that. But you will always be my Alpha. You're irreplaceable. It's your good soul that keeps me from going off the deep end, and keeps me sane while I'm here going crazy._

_I have no idea when I'll be back, just know I'm working as fast as I can to be back to who I used to be so that I can come back. I know you say I don't have to protect you, because you feel like you should be the one protecting me. But Scott, you're my best friend. I'm always going to want to protect you. And be there for you. Which I will be again, soon._

_I've asked Georgie and your mom to look out for my boys. I know what you guys did with the Nemeton is going to change you. Just keep your spirit, Scott McCall. Your righteousness, your dignity, your sense of service to anyone who needs you. It's what makes you who you are. And I expect that Scott to still be in Beacon Hills when I come back. Look out for yourself. Hold onto your relationships – with Stiles, your mom, Deaton, everyone. Your friends and family are the light in whatever darkness is inside of you now because of your sacrifice. I'm sorry I can't be a part of that light at the moment. But know that you're my light in the darkness encasing me right now. I'll pull through, and I'll be back. I promise you that._

_Until then, I love you,_

_Jessie._

Scott wiped under his eyes and let out a breathless sigh, setting the letter into a drawer in his desk. He felt just a little bit lighter, knowing that she really was okay – for the most part. And she'd be back. That's all he could hope for. He was happy she was alive, even if he wanted to see the proof in front of him. But he'd be patient, and wait for her to come back. It couldn't be long. He knew she wouldn't allow that. So, he'd wait. For her.

* * *

PORTLAND, OREGON

Jessie let out a loud gasp as she folded herself into the corner of her guest room in her cousin's house. She heard voices calling her name, but she couldn't tell who they were, just that they were concerned for her. She grimaced and cried in pain as she dug her fingernails into her palms, cutting into the skin, blood dripping onto her lap. She turned her head into the wall, hearing the blood pumping through all the people in the room with her. Her instinct was to clamp down on their arteries and get her strength from their blood. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't hurt them – kill them.

"It won't stop," she whimpered, pressing her forehead into the wall. "I can hear your blood. I'm too weak to fight."

"We will help you control it," a gentle feminine voice called to her, and she knew it was her Aunt Sienna. "You're strong enough."

"No, I'm not," she cried pathetically.

"Jessie," it was Alex's voice, his hand pulling her to look at him. She kept her eyes shut, because she knew her new sharp eyesight would hone in on the vein popping in his neck. "I know something you can do. It's not a permanent fix, but it'll keep you from hurting anyone. It will also just change you even more. But I can coach you through it if you're willing."

"Anything," she whined. "I'll do anything. Just do it."

"Okay," he sighed. "Here we go."

**Author's Note:**

> Third in the series!  
> Trailer here;  
> https://vimeo.com/158773568


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